Cross-posted at Tall Tales
John McCain just doesn't get it.
He thinks Americans will settle for a "maverick on the margins." Someone who breaks with the Bush-era Republican Party on a few select issues (campaign finance, immigration, global warming), but who adheres to the same core, trickle-down economic philosophy.
From his appearance on Meet the Press today:
So do we share a common philosophy of the Republican Party? Of course. But I've, I've stood up against my party, not just President Bush, but others; and I've got the scars to prove it .... I could go down a long list of issues with you.
Therein lies the problem for McCain: this is not an election about "a long list of issues."
This is an election about fundamental economic change, and McCain's I-share-Bush's-philosophy admission plays right into Barack Obama's strongest argument:
This economic crisis is the final verdict on a failed philosophy that says, "Give more and more to the wealthy, and hope that some of that prosperity trickles down" — a philosophy that views even the most common-sense regulations as unwise and unnecessary.
This philosophy has been embraced by President Bush and Sen. John McCain — and it’s a philosophy that I’m running for president to change.
Against that background, McCain's admission this morning that he shares a "common philosophy" with George Bush provided the perfect confirmation of Obama's core message, a fact that was not lost upon the Democratic nominee.
Here he is in Colorado, shortly after McCain's appearance on Meet the Press:
[J]ust this morning, Senator McCain said that he and President Bush – "share a common philosophy." That's right, Colorado. I guess that was John McCain finally giving us a little straight talk, and owning up to the fact that he and George Bush actually have a whole lot in common.
Well, we know what the Bush-McCain philosophy looks like. It's a philosophy that says we should give more and more to folks at the top and hope that it trickles down. It's a philosophy that gives tax breaks to wealthy CEOs and to corporations that ship jobs overseas while hundreds of thousands of jobs are disappearing here at home. It's a philosophy that justifies spending $10 billion a month in Iraq while the Iraqi government sits on a huge surplus and our economy is in crisis.
For eight years, we've seen the Bush-McCain philosophy put our country on the wrong track, and we cannot have another four years that look just like the last eight. It's time for change in Washington, and that's why I'm running for President of the United States.
We know that the economic crisis that hit Wall Street has been hurting middle class families on Main Street for years. But during the primaries, Senator McCain was saying that we've made "great progress economically" under George Bush, and just last month he was still arguing that the "fundamentals of our economy are strong." That's not change.
Now, some might argue McCain has no choice. "Of course he shares Bush's philosophy," they'd say. "They're both Republicans."
But that's unfair to millions of Republicans, and unfair to the Republican legacy of Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Because there is not just one Republican philosophy on the economy (though you could be forgiven for thinking so in recent years).
There are at least two, very distinct Republican philosophies:
- The Coolidge/Hoover/Bush trickle-down, deregulatory philosophy; and
- The Eisenhower budget-hawk-mixed-with-progressive-economic-policy philosophy (90% top marginal rate; expand Social Security; build infrastructure; raise the minimum wage; balance the budget).
McCain was better positioned than any Republican other than Colin Powell to seize the mantle of Eisenhower and revive the second Republican philosophy.
Instead, he chose to embrace the first Republican philosophy, and lavish praise on its modern-day champion -- George W. Bush:
He should be judged very, very well as far as the economy is concerned. We’re in a long sustained period of economic growth.
- McCain on Bush, March 2007
I think we are better off overall if you look at the entire eight-year period, when you look at the millions of jobs that have been created, the improvement in the economy, et cetera.
- McCain on the Bush Record, January 2008
I still believe the fundamentals of our economy are strong.
- McCain on the Bush Economy, August 2008
McCain had a choice.
He made the wrong one.
***
McCain Quotes Collected in Yeah, Right pages 44, 72 & 73
Online Sources: March 2007; January 2008; August 2008