Posted by
Look2theWest on Thursday, April 03, 2008 6:22:53 PM
Here's how McCain can address the economy - number one for most Americans:
1) Announce (early) Romney will be his Vice-President. Mitt Romney is a private sector superstar that fills a huge gap in McCain's otherwise strong resume. Romney's excellent at promoting free market principles to effectively counter the populist rhetoric of Obama/Clinton. He’s also great at explaining why doing nothing (letting markets sort things out) is usually best. America (the world's largest economy) needs a great economic leader on the ticket!
2) Working with Romney, McCain should draft a major speech on the economy that educates voters about the successes of capitalism and how markets work best (mostly) unfettered. For example, he can highlight how many hundreds of millions of people from India and China have been able to move from poverty to middle class and how that helps our economy (exports). He could talk about how liberal government policies and unions have crippled Detroit and Michigan hinting if you want America to follow the same course - elect Obama/Clinton.
3) The knockout blow would be to debunk the myth that America can trust Democrats with the economy because of the great Clinton economy of the 1990s. As John Adams once said, "Facts are stubborn things". The fact is the booming economy of the 1990s began in March 1991 - 20 months before Clinton took office in January 1993. McCain could find some prominent economist to back him up or simply point reporters to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (bea.gov). In addition, the Clinton budget surpluses that Dems so often point to as evidence of their superior fiscal management were actually a direct result of the historic elections of the 1994 Congressional Republicans (Congress holds the purse strings) and the fiscal discipline in the Contract with America.
McCain should help Americans conclude that an Obama-Clinton economy would look more like Jimmy Carter’s economy not Bill Clinton's economy. In 1976, like 2008, a Democratic nominee (Carter) ran for President, with a struggling economy and a Democratic Congress. That combination (Dem President & Dem Congress) made a bad situation worse. Do we want to repeat history and be worse off in four years? Yes we can! But, we won't!
Or, like 1980, we can elect a GOP President (Reagan) to offset the Dem Congress. That didn't turn out too shabby :-)