The financial crisis and the election: The politics of despair

"Wall Street’s meltdown readjusts the race in unexpected waysWITH an investment bank failing, an insurance giant needing a bail-out, the Dow tumbling and panic gripping Wall Street, Barack Obama spoke graciously about his opponent. “I certainly don’t fault Senator [John] McCain for these problems,” he said. He also refrained from blaming him for global warming and Hurricane Ike. But he did fault Mr McCain for his economic philosophy, “a philosophy that says even common-sense regulations are unnecessary and unwise, and one that says we should just stick our heads in the sand and ignore economic problems until they spiral into crises.”Both candidates doubtless wish to tackle the crisis. But they cannot, since neither will be in charge until January and the crisis must be tackled immediately. So each is trying to sound as if he would knock some sense into Wall Street, while tut-tutting that the other fellow supported the policies that got America into this mess in the first place. ..." (2008-9-18)
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