And speaking of leadership, why didn't John McCain set up a meeting with House Republicans, announce he was firmly endorsing the "bailout" bill, and tell them it was crucial to his campaign and the future of the country for the bill to get passed. For that matter, why didn't Obama do the same with the House Democrats? They are, in practice, the leaders of their parties, after all.
One can only conclude that either our "leaders" don't think that this crisis is all it's made out to be, or they are pathetic.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Speaking of Leadership
David Bernstein:
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3 comments:
There's one huge difference here: The Democrats delivered on their votes, the Republicans did not.
About 60% of Democrats voted for this bill, but only 33% of Republicans.
I'd say that it was McCain that needed to do more work, not Obama. Obama's side delivered. Nuff said.
Plus, it was McCain who staged his pathetic stunt of "suspending" his campaign to ensure passage, and who even claimed credit for delivering the votes before the vote collapsed.
McCain's campaign is a tragic comedy at this point.
As an aside, the Republican party is splintering very badly. McCain has no influence, their President Bush has no influence, their Treasury Sec has no influence, etc.
Wrong. Only 12 votes were needed for a different outcome. They could have come from either the Democrats or the Republicans -- it didn't matter. If Obama wanted, don't you think he could have used his influence to secure 12 more democratic votes? If not, he's much weaker than you say. If so, he failed to take this seriously. If the crisis is as bad as you say, that was irresponsible of him. Particularly if the Republicans are splintering as badly as you say, their votes should not have been expected. Doubly so because Obama has a much higher chance of winning the election than McCain, meaning he has more influence. Obama had a chance to use this influence and did not.
I'm not saying McCain is any better. I'm just saying on this issue, Obama is just as bad.
The Democratic leadership thought they had the votes and they were going to hang the bailout on the Republicans so Pelosi gave permission to those Democratic representatives in tight races to vote "no."
The Republicans didn't take the bait.
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