McCain's Economic "Fundamentals" Definition Ripped By Obama Campaign

John McCain quickly got hammered by Barack Obama on Monday when he declared that the "fundamentals of our economy are still strong" at an event in Jacksonville, Florida. John McCain subsequently attempted to walk back the comment in a later speech, saying:

"The economic crisis is not the fault of the American people. Our workers are the most innovative, hardest working, best skilled, most competitive in the world. That is the American worker. My opponent may disagree, but those fundamentals of the American worker and their innovation and entrepreneurship, those are the fundamentals of America and I think they're strong. But they are being threatened today, those fundamentals are being threatened because of the greed and corruption that some have engaged in on Wall Street; we have got to fix it."

As the Politico noted, that's an awfully vague (and idiosyncratic) way to define economic fundamentals -- which are actually statistical indicators like unemployment, inflation, and consumer confidence.

Now, Barack Obama's campaign is hitting back at McCain's attempt to redefine his earlier remarks. In a statement to the Huffington Post, spokesman Ben LaBolt said: "John McCain must think the American people are stupid. His campaign's pathetic attempt to clean up their candidate's disturbingly out-of-touch statement that the 'fundamentals of our economy are still strong' is about as believable as the dishonest, dishonorable campaign they've been running."

Comments

[way2muchsense]

Wow. That's like saying, "how 'bout them Astros!" the day after Zambrano and the Cubs no-hit them 5-0.

I take that back. The 'stros are in contention this year. The U.S. economy is not. Talk about out of touch. It's more like this sports article I read just before hearing about the no-hitter about how the hurricane break could be somehow bad for the Cubs.

[jrterrier]

"Whoops!
Jennifer Rubin - 09.15.2008 - 10:09 AM
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac survived scrutiny by manipulating, cajoling, and lobbying politicians and hiring board members who were politicos (e.g. Jamie Gorelick) rather than mortgage gurus. They hired lobbyists, gave massive donations, obtained nice tax breaks, and sailed below the regulatory radar screen.

Of the 354 lawmakers who received money from Freddie and Fannie between 1989 and 2008, Sen. Chris Dodd received the most. But next was . . . drumroll . . . Barack Obama. Yup. And he was only there for three years. Not too much went to John McCain, about a sixth of what Obama received (h/t Glenn Reynolds.)

But, you say, maybe all the Fannie and Freddie employees who gave money just “liked” Obama. That might make sense with ordinary institutions. But these two had a game plan to influence and sway lawmakers for the purpose of keeping them on the government gravy train and out of the regulatory line of fire. It’s no coincidence that they “liked” Senate Banking Chairman Chris Dodd best of all.

So it would appear that this is precisely what Obama has been railing against: Washington insiders lining the pockets of other Washington insiders while the taxpayers ultimately have to foot the bill. The Agent of Change, it seems, didn’t exactly walk the walk on this one."

http://www.commentarymagazine.com/blogs/index.php/rubin/30411

[NiteVizn]

Typical Republican. When their people make mistakes and errors in judgment, they deflect the criticism by saying.. 'wait you can't talk about what JUST happened..­cause hey your guy did THIS/THAT'­...Answer to the CURRENT issue or don't answer at all. I would even be fine if you admitted McCain made the mistake and then brought this peace (which smells like a rat to me) up - but NO!. Your immediate response is to attack.

[Ozarks]

McCain doesn't use normal channels to milk Fannie and Freddie. His Campaign Chief , Davis is a Freddie and Fannie lobbyist. So all the money Fannie and Freddie give to Davis the lobbyist goes in McCain's pocket bypassing usual campaign contributions laws. Why do you think McCain has 150 lobbyists working for him? As Obama said "150 lobbyists are not working on McCain's campaign to work themselves out of employment"

[walkthewalk]

This is more like it. Rip the mask off of McCain. Let the voters see him for who he is.

[leftoflennon]

"John McCain must think the American people are stupid. His campaign's pathetic attempt to clean up their candidate's disturbingly out-of-touch statement that the 'fundamentals of our economy are still strong' is about as believable as the dishonest, dishonorable campaign they've been running."

Whoa!

[brettjay]

Clearly Obama is---and has always been----talking about POLICY, POLICY POLICY!!! Nice try McCain.

[leftoflennon]

Whoa!

[brettjay]

Clearly McCain is talking about POLICY, POLICY POLICY!!! Nice try McCain.

[burndtdan]

actually, we aren't necessarily the most skilled or most competitive in the world anyways. and we'll continue to lose ground in those areas so long as our education system keeps slipping behind the times.

[whit4brains]

I saw that speech and laughed when I heard him trying to redefine "fundamentals".

This man is a such a sad pa.th.etic joke.

[kellygrrrl]

McCain wants to Privatize Social Security

http://www.truthout.org/article/mccain-would-privatize-social-security

[Colmore]

Great, then that can go down the tubes along with all these financial institutions. Obama should point this out to all the retirees in Florida. Georgie tried to push this through, but like everything else (thank God) he FAILED at that, also. Phil Gramm had his fingers in the mortgage mess, also. He is McCain's financial advisor, he thinks we are all "whiners".

[glitz]

The American public forgets about a year ago...when both Bush and McCain voted to "Privatize Social Security" (the bill did not pass) and all the other talk about private investment for Social Security. Here it is just a few months later and just what would have become of those accounts..­..now?

[Ozarks]

Well it would have saved Lehman, Merril , Freddie, Fannie and AIG. All the contributions of people to privatized social security would have had their money "directed" by Lehman , Merril and the other 150 banks about to go under to "subprime" rea estate "investments". That way when the real estate market tanked these banks would just write off your social security "investments" from balance sheet as investment writedowns or losses and all social security payments would stop and the public would have been holding the bag instead of these Banks executives and their big time " clients".