Recession? McCain Says It's "Psychological"
The Corporate Media spent a week attacking Obama for saying some rural voters might be "bitter" over the loss of economic opportunities.
By that measure, it certainly is worth a month of TV time to analyze John McCain's claim that the recession is "psychological," and the cure is a summer holiday from the $.18 federal gasoline tax.
I’m very concerned about it, Neil. And obviously the way it’s been going up is just terrible. But I think psychologically — and a lot of our problems today, as you know, are psychological — the confidence, trust, the uncertainty about our economic future, ability to keep our own home. This might give them a little psychological boost. Let’s have some straight talk, it’s not a huge amount of money.
According to the latest ABC/WaPo poll, 90% of Americans think the economy is going south. Did 90% of Americans suddenly lose their minds, or did the economy ... turn south?
The price of food and gas is shooting up. The value of most Americans' primary asset, their homes, is going down. Unemployment is rising. Economic growth is flat. The deficit is out of control.
And this is all psychological?
During a previous era of inflation and economic stagnation, another President offered a psychological diagnosis:
"In a nation that was proud of hard work, strong families, close-knit communities and our faith in God, too many of us now tend to worship self-indulgence and consumption. Human identity is no longer defined by what one does but by what one owns."
The pundits of the day jumped all over the speech, which was labeled "Malaise" - a word not even found in the speech.
as historian Douglas Brinkley notes, "it boomeranged on him. The op-ed pieces started spinning out, 'Why don't you fix something? There's nothing wrong with the American people. We're a great people. Maybe the problem's in the White House, maybe we need new leadership to guide us.'"
Yeah John - there's nothing wrong with our heads, we're fine. The problem is in the White House, and we need new leadership that will change the disastrous course we're on - not a summer vacation from the $.18 gas tax so we can buy coffee and a snack!
- Bob Fertik's blog
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Recession? McCain Says It's "Psychological"
He's a republican. What do you expect? If a democrat was in the White House, he would be able to say that we were in a recession. Damn the luck, the democrats aren't in the White House and there is no way for them to say we need make a 180 degree turn in policy direction to fix this mess. So, it HAS to be all in our heads and (in their bazarro world) there is absolutely nothing wrong with the current fiscal policies in place. Lord knows republicans can't allow the blame for the fiscal mess we are in to land squarely at their feet. The problem (for them) is that most people can see that gas going up, utility bills are going up, the cost of groceries is going up, their paycheck doesn't go as far as it did even a year ago, and our cost of living raises did nothing to help defray those increases. If the voters seem to be swayed by their current financial circumstances, they can always trot out gay marriage, guns, and abortion to distract the "values" voters long enough to sucker them into to voting against their own best interests yet again.
I can't see the old
"god, gays, and guns" issues having an impact this time. The economic issues you describe are so enormous they eclipse everything except Iraq, which is closely related to the recession.
The big problem is that this Recession is not going to be shallow or short, and our Democratic President is going to have major challenges turning the economy around - while Republicans stand on the sidelines and throw rotten eggs, pretending Bush's disastrous policies didn't cause the Recession.
It depends
I am sure for the most part, economic issues will weigh heavily on most voter's minds, but...to turn out the vote in states like Missouri (where I live) they will put initiatives on the ballot in states where they feel it will work that will drive up the religious right voter turnout to counter those that are voting bread and butter issues. "Values" voters have consistently voted against their own economic best interests and I don't see this election cycle as being much different. You have to understand their rational before you can fight them, or at least blunt their efforts. They believe so strongly that God will provide that secular issues like the economy have no real bearing on their existence so social issues are their only issues. Some go so far as to believe that if they ban abortion or stop stem cell research that God will reward this country with good economic times and that economic downturns are God's punishment for allowing these things to continue.
This year McCain is their candidate and he will not inspire social conservatives to rush to the polls come November, so just imagine what effect on voter turn out it would have if they placed a proposed amendment to the Missouri State Constitution that states: In the event that the USSC overturns Roe v Wade, turning the issue of abortion back to the states to decide, abortion under all circumstances shall be illegal in the State of Missouri and deemed a capital offense and punishable as such.