In The Crisis Spotlight

One of them erratic and without a plan, the other conventional to the point of boredom. The crises have put the presidential candidates more into focus.

John McCain’s strategy is based on convincing voters that it’s risky to put America into the hands of someone less experienced during these turbulent times. Much better the steady hands of the old seafarer, John McCain. Barack Obama’s strategy is based on convincing voters that after eight disastrous years of Bush, it’s risky to put America into the hands of an old Washington insider who has no new ideas. Better to take a chance on the energy and commitment to change of a charismatic Barack Obama.

Stormy seas will show who has the leadership qualities, even if they’re not yet in office but still campaigning. When candidates can no longer read from prepared scripts, their true character will show through. Crises are tests of character, from Georgia to Wall Street. Thus it becomes apparent that neither candidate is what he claims to be. John McCain has in no way emerged as the wise man from Arizona. Instead, he appears impulsive, erratic and unpredictable. Ready to gamble everything to the point of irresponsibility. A populist without a qualm. Someone who shoots from the hip. On the other hand, Barack Obama doesn’t look at all like the great bringer of change for 2008. Instead, he appears deliberate and methodical, slow and careful. He’s conventional and predictable to the point of boredom. He won’t rebel against the party line.

Let’s start with John McCain and the previous week. On Monday, he claimed America’s economy was strong and the basic numbers were good. On Tuesday, he changed that to the fundamentals were fine, but the economy was in crisis. He suggested the creation of a bi-partisan commission to study the causes of the crisis but hasn’t mentioned that commission since. He opposed bailing out the insurance giant American International Group (AIG). When the government decided on just such a bailout, he adopted an insightful image and claimed that it was unavoidable. Meanwhile, his position had changed again.

On Thursday, he said that had he been President, he would have fired the Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Christopher Cox, a man he had never previously criticized and whom he would have no authority to fire even if he were President. Shortly thereafter, he referred to Cox as “a good man” and dropped the idea he should step down. When the Bush administration came out with its bailout plan for the entire financial sector on Friday, McCain praised it. On the same day, he proposed new regulatory laws for financial markets despite his widely publicized reputation as a deregulator. The next somersault came on Sunday when he began criticizing the administration’s bailout plan. Newsweek magazine labeled McCain “Uncle Ziggy” because of his zigzags on the issue. With McCain, America would get exactly what it doesn’t want: uncertainty.

Alas! If it were only uncertainty! John McCain wants to ride roughshod, to totally govern, to hack through all the knots. He supported the troop surge in Iraq despite the risks. He had nearly 6 months to pick a running mate. When the party’s inner circle rebelled against his first choice (Joe Lieberman), he chose a substitute within one week and based on a single interview, a woman who promised to bring in a lot of votes, but one who nevertheless represents another high-stakes gamble. Exactly like the Georgian crisis. While every newspaper reader knows who started the shooting there, John McCain had already pre-judged the guilty party: “We’re all Georgians,” he proclaimed. The truth is, John McCain is a knee-jerk politician.

As opposed to Barack Obama, who is cautious to excess. He couldn’t articulate his position on the Georgian crisis for days, abandoning the field and the initiative to McCain. The fact that the troop surge in Iraq worked hardly merits his mention, even today. In choosing his running mate, he systematically went through all the possibilities, excluding anyone who might possibly hurt another Democrat. In so doing, he still hasn’t grasped the fact that he hasn’t defected from party orthodoxy, something McCain has done dozens of times. The post-party politician he portrays turns out to be surprisingly conformist.

The Wall Street crisis is a gift to Obama. He could have taken command these past couple of weeks as America increasingly started to resemble a bankrupt banana republic. But he hardly attacked at all. Instead, he referred to the bi-partisan nature of the crisis and avoided comments about the government bailout plan. Obama acted as if he were already President. When McCain announced his own plan on Friday, the Obama campaign said it couldn’t comment, it was waiting for Bush to announce his own plan. The Democrats’ favorite reason for Obama’s reluctance to attack is this: Obama is too nice, too innocent, too honorable and too truthful. A bit of racism plus the religious right and he would be finished. Actually, the question posed by Christopher Hitchens in Slate is relevant: Why is Obama “so stale and flat, so cautious and cowardly?” Exactly. Why?

Thanks to the crises, America’s presidential candidates have been shown to everyone in more detail than either would have preferred.