John McCain's third speech in three weeks on the economy tomorrow will be an opportunity for him to clarify the tone and theme of his fiscal policies.
Though McCain did not change his position, he certainly changed his tone, so much so that a a comparison of the two speeches, side by side, is bound to produce some whiplash. Conservatives who praised McCain in March were quick to condemn him in April.
McCain's first speech, (3/25) in which he struck a classic modern conservative pose, had this as a most memorable line....
I have always been committed to the principle that it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers. Government assistance to the banking system should be based solely on preventing systemic risk that would endanger the entire financial system and the economy.
Its composition was heavily influenced by former Sen. Phil Gramm, an economist.
McCain's second speech, widely seen as more... human... was written with the major contribution of chief policy adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin.
There is nothing more important than keeping alive the American dream to own your home, and priority number one is to keep well meaning, deserving home owners who are facing foreclosure in their homes.
Tomorrow's speech, according to aides, is a collaborate effort.
"They are all joint efforts," writes Jill Hazelbaker, a McCain spokesperson, in an e-mail. "Sometimes one person has more input or writes a longer section, but they are all the product of lengthy group discussions."
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I'm sorry, but I'm not sure that "position" means what you think it means. (h/t Inigo Montoya). In March, McCain says clearly no government assistance except to prevent (sic) systematic risk to the banking system. I do not think that there is any reasonable interpretation of that statement except that McCain opposes aid to individuals caught up in the banking crisis. Bank liquidity yes, homeowner...not so much.
Then in April: "priority number one is to keep well meaning, deservign home owners who are facing foreclosure in their homes." Clearly this implies a shift of policy intention. Now its not systematic risk that is most important, but helping "deserving" home owners.
The impression is strengthened -- or rather, the fact of a politically expedient (necessary?) flip flop is confirmed -- by the fact that McCain actually offered a kind of a program to help out the "deserving." Scare quotes abound because his program is the least one can do and get an unobservant press corps to report it as real. Define "deserving" narrowly enough and it turns out you don't have to do all that much -- but it sounds sort of good till the details emerge. But still, it is a distinctly different approach than the one he proposed a couple of weeks before -- as in fact many people in the press reported.
Now John McCain swears he hasn't changed his position, and I'm even willing to believe that he believes that. McCain may well have convinced himself that everything he says is true, even if it is different from what he said yesterday. But that doesn't mean the press, even or especially the authors of "reported blogs" need to share that delusion.
McCain is not your friend, Marc. He's your subject. Treat him accordingly.
Posted by Thomas Levenson | April 14, 2008 4:28 PM