McCain economic plan: real bridge to nowhere
Steven Coyle, Guest Columnist
Published On: 09/23/2008
In recent weeks, we have seen the GOP ticket soaring high in the sky. With higher numbers in the polls, the Sarah Palin effect seemed to have given them the boost they so desperately needed. But by the start of last week, which saw a big drop in the stock market, has brought the Republican party from riding high to barely flying at all. Who knew that having a candidate that is virtually more out of touch with the economy than the Bush administration would cause problems?
America is now seeing what Barak Obama’s campaign has been saying all along, but it wasn’t Obama, Joe Biden, or Palin that validated their claims; it was John McCain himself. In a speech, McCain in all seriousness said, “The fundamentals of our economy are strong.”
This mere statement, which has been present in over 20 of his speeches, has caused his slight lead over Obama to vanish overnight.
The effects are being seen across the nation, especially in many critical states like Florida, Ohio, and even North Carolina, all of which are states McCain must win to even have a chance in this election. Polls so far show Obama wining 242 electoral college votes while McCain trails with 227, leaving 69 votes up for grabs in swing states. The problem for McCain is that Florida and Ohio are two of the swing states, with a combined 47 electoral votes. Let’s just do the math, shall we?
If Obama wins both states; that would give him 289, and he only needs 271 to win the election. Even if Obama only wins one, like Florida (27 electoral votes), that would give him 269, and McCain would have to win all the other swing states just to tie. McCain now has to go back and focus on states the Republican party should win easily.
But all the campaigning in the world will get him nowhere if he doesn’t come up with an economic plan. His plan, as it stands today, isn’t a plan at all; it’s more like a ‘bridge to nowhere.’ McCain’s current plan includes taking out the corruption in Washington by getting rid of the lobbyists. My question is how can you fire the lobbyists when they are running your campaign?
Secondly, McCain wants to take the most successful government program, Social Security, and put it in the stock market, so in a way it would be privatized. He wants to put our Social Security (and his for that matter) in the same stock market he calls a casino. Next, he wants to lower taxes for Americans making over $250,000 a year, while raising taxes for everyone else. Last time I checked, the two-thirds of Americans that are struggling to pay their bills are making less than $250,000 a year. Talk about change!
Can McCain be so disconnected with reality that he believes the economy is strong? Can the GOP be so out of whack that they haven’t thought to give this man a real economic plan, or at least a fake one? This election will be based on who has the best economic plan. So when it comes down to it, who would you pick — the man with the plan, or the man without one?
With Election Day getting close, McCain doesn’t stand a chance if he can’t win a debate over who is better for the economy. Finally, I’m happy to see that this election is about the issues instead of Palin and her image. Bottom line, the McCain-Palin ticket is about the same old plan we have seen for the last eight years, and we all know the sequel is usually worse than the original. To quote the words of both candidates, “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”
Email: smcoyle@uab.edu
