It is probably not fair to expect presidential candidates to have a fully formed opinion on the wisdom of a once-in-a-century federal government takeover of a reinsurance giant. Let's forgive both McCain and Obama for not having a detailed knowledge of the swap market, arbitrage and derivatives.
Still, their initial instincts about nationalization are worth knowing.
The Obama campaign has a firm, unequivocally equivocal answer:
Considering the fact that John McCain flatly opposed the bailout of AIG a day before he changed course and supported it, we're not sure why on earth the McCain campaign wants to have a debate about economic indecision. Barack Obama does not second guess the Fed's decision to take unprecedented action to prevent the failure of one of the largest insurance companies in the world from creating an even larger crisis, and he believes it must protect families who count on insurance.
Ok, but what's Obama's position? Would he have first-guessed the Fed?
Obama seems to be saying that he didn't know enough before the collapse, would have consulted with his advisers, and trusts that the collective wisdom of the Treasury Secretary, Fed governors and economic experts would lead him to the right solution. The Fed has a lot of information that Obama doesn't, and the information asymmetry, Obama seems to be saying, is enough to give them the benefit of the doubt.
McCain (and Joe Biden) viscerally and publicly opposed an AIG bailout, and then both men seem to have been subsequently educated by events.
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