The presidential election just past was all about the economy, nothing else. The Iraq war, the Afghan war, terrorism — these were all but forgotten by most voters once the economy nosedived. But despite the economy (or because of it) John McCain could nonetheless have won. Unfortunately, he was too busy being John McCain.
John McCain, you see, is a “maverick” (which means he’s not like other Republicans, i.e., he’s like a Democrat). Others think of him as a “RINO” — Republican In Name Only. John McCain is essentially a Democrat, in thought and action, and that prevented him from understanding what happened to the economy.
Democrats (the real ones, including Obama) managed to blame the financial sector meltdown on Bush, the Republicans, the free market and deregulation — none of which are guilty.
By virtue of his Democrat world-view, McCain was unable to connect the dots between actions of the Federal Government (FedGov) and the housing market collapse. Lest we forget, it was the failure of huge numbers of sub-prime mortgage loans that initiated the world-wide financial crisis. And the sub-prime mortgage snafu was caused by FedGov — when it was run by Democrats. This was not a mess of the Republicans’ making. The fuse was lit during the Clinton years and this disaster-in-the-making was inherited by the Bush Administration.
A real Republican would have pointed out that policies instituted by a Democrat-controlled congress and by the Clinton administration were the real culprits. A real Republican, who understood that it was interference with the free market that caused the collapse, would have placed blame for the world-wide financial meltdown right where it belonged. Sure, McCain tried to distance himself from Bush, but what was needed was to distance Bush from this Democrat-created financial meltdown.
But McCain jumped right on the Wall-Street-is-evil bandwagon right along with the Democrats. All he had to do was place blame for the ruined economy where it belonged. He failed to do so because he doesn’t get it. He doesn’t get it because he’s a maverick — a RINO — just another Democrat. Democrats will never understand that tampering with the free market always leads to trouble.
This election was all about the economy. McCain could have won in a landslide if he hadn’t been a maverick.