In a way, it’s a logical extension. Republican Presidential candidate Sen. John McCain’s supporters have sometimes suggested that by criticizing war policy Democratic Sen. Barack Obama didn’t want the U.S. to win or put political values first. Now McCain’s camp is charging that by criticizing the Bush administration’s handling of the economy, the Republicans’ role in it, and McCain’s own assertions that he is “cheer-leading” the Wall Street economic meltdown.
Welcome to 21st century politics, folks, where the overt McCarthyism of the 50s morphed into a somewhat-more-subtle covert form aimed at those who criticize war policy (DISCLAIMER: I am closer to McCain on the war than to Obama and supported McCain in 2000) has now re-morphed into suggestions that he who blasts an administration that has been in power for 8 years on economic chaos on Wall Street is using putting politics before country and egging the economic crisis on. Implication: if you’re cheer-leading you want the crisis to get worse.
This almost sounds like an Andy Borowitz news story, but it is for real:
Top aides to Republian John McCain are claiming Democrat Barack Obama and his advisers are exploiting Wall Street’s financial problems for political gain.
Aide Steve Schmidt, who worked for the Bush-Cheney team in 2004, told reporters Thursday aboard McCain’s plane that Obama is “cheerleading this crisis.” He said McCain is seeking a bipartisan solution although Schmidt and aides Mark Salter and Nicole Wallace also said Democratic congressional leaders should be condemned for considering adjourning without addressing the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the sale of Merrill Lynch and the emergency government loan to insurer AIG.
Question: would a political party that did not aggressively campaign on a near depression that happened on another party’s watch be a competent political party?
Does this mean FDR was a bad American because he aggressively went after Herbert Hoover and his party on the economy?
Was Ronald Reagan a cynical pol when he made Democratic President Jimmy Carter’s incompetent handling of the economy an issue?
Or are only Republicans patriotic and well-meaning Americans when they make economic mismanagement by the other party the issue?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.