McCain Must Be Losing It

The Straight Talk Express was a thing of the past long ago.  Ever since John McCain has gotten within sniffing distance of the presidency, he’s been overreaching on a daily basis.  His message is all over the place and the man who pledged long ago to wage a campaign for the presidency on a higher plane has gone to the gutter even amid the most serious U.S. economic crisis since the Great Depression.  Mcain said today:

MCCAIN: You know, we’ve heard a lot of words from Senator Obama over the course of this campaign, but maybe just this once he could spare us the lectures and admit to his own poor judgment in contributing to these problems.

The crisis on — the crisis on Wall Street, my friends, started in the Washington culture of lobbying and influence-peddling, and he was right square in the middle of it. My friends, this is the problem in Washington. People like Senator Obama have been too busy gaming the system and haven’t ever done a thing to actually challenge the system. That’s not country first. That’s Obama first.

Give me a break.  The “culture of lobbying and influence-peddling?”  There are two problems with this.  Most of McCain’s campaign leadership is composed of lobbyists taking a break from K Street to invest some time into what they hope will be a cozy future.  This includes McCain campaign manager Rick Davis.  And, on the other hand, who in the I-want-to-be-president room is one of the Keating Five? 

McCain also went after Obama for taking Fannie and Freddie related campaign contributions as well as advice from two former CEOs of the companies.  What he didn’t say is that he’s taken his share of Fannie and Freddie dollars and two of his campaign leaders lobby for the companies. Hypocrisy.

While shoot from the hip John proposed a name today for what everyone thinks will be a new Resolution Trust-type federal entity, Barack met with a team of leading U.S. economists and outlined several principles he will apply to his consideration of Bush Administration and Congressional action on the crisis. 

After watching coverage of the two candidates today, it’s no question who looks like a leader: calm, cool, and calculating in the middle of crisis.  It was Obama.