You can say plenty bad about McCain… but this ad annoys me. What do we want our leaders to say?
Do we want them to believe the fundamentals of the American economy are weak? That America at a fundamental level has nothing going for it? That we are never going to make it so we should just quit now and come to terms with it?
What has happened to the message of hope?
It would be one thing to not acknowledge challenges we need to overcome, but read the quote in context:
“I still believe the fundamentals of our economy are strong. We’ve got terribly big challenges now, whether it be housing or employment or so many of the other — health care. It’s very, very tough times. It’s very tough. But we’re still the most innovative, the most productive”
We have challenges that we can overcome. I just don’t know how you can twist that into something bad.
In many ways the economy is self fulfilling and our leaders affect it. We spend millions in political ads trying to make the case that the economy is weak and then we’re shocked when consumer confidence is lowered.
I don’t think our leaders should be attacked for being advocates for the American economy— that is part of their job (as is addressing the challenges).
This whole argument is like saying George Bush, Bill Clinton, Ronald Regan, and Jimmy Carter are the same because they all claimed the State of the Union was sound.
