Economy Time

So, with the beginning of another week, the U.S. economy continues its long, painful downward spiral. Lehman and Merrill Lynch will cease to exist, and the federal government faces yet another major bailout/brokered merger situation. Hopefully, with Obama pouncing on the news, the public will actually desire some sort of debate or discussion of this topic before they elect their next leader. My guess? Since the kinds of Americans who are enthused by McCain/Palin are not the people who care about the downfall of major banking pillars or the long term state of the national economy, it will be an uphill struggle for Obama to regain the advantage all at once.

On the plus side, it's now official that McCain's campaign is straight-up lying all over the place and banking on the ignorance of the public/the appeal of their dark horse VP. One might wonder why Palin has engendered such enthusiasm (after all, she is just the VP, and a completely green one at that) I think many Republicans are on to something. They realize, on a gut level perhaps, that McCain is actually somewhat UNLIKELY TO SURVIVE even his first term in office, and they are excited to be voting for a woman who would almost certainly do more damage to the country than even the feckless George W. Note: McCain still hasn't released his full medical records, WTF?

It doesn't matter to them that the national economy is in the tank and still sliding, or that McCain's economic advisers are almost unbelievably disconnected from this reality. It doesn't matter that the surge hasn't really produced the success McCain is claiming it did, because they want to believe they made the right choice in voting to go to war in the first place. It certainly doesn't matter that the media, which they already view as distinctly biased, has been actively and openly debunking McCain/Palin's campaign-trail lies and smearing attack ads. Turdblossom said it himself: "you can't trust the fact-check organizations." And while some might lament the metamorphosis of John McCain from independent patriot to incipient puppet, they are much more focused on the other half of the ticket.

These issues do matter, however, to a large number of independent, moderate voters who simply want governance that is competent and pragmatic, divorced from the corrupting influence of lobbyists and right-wing ideologues. These are the kinds of people who aren't as impressed by Sarah Palin and who have good reason to doubt McCain's claim to being the reform candidate of the race. These are the kinds of people who the media narrative might have a significant effect on. If the MSM's focus turns to the economy, as it should this week, Obama will definitely regain some polling ground, especially in Rust Belt states, but he will be hard pressed to dampen Palin's core appeal. Still, I expect the equilibrium of the race to restore this week, which will set Obama up pretty well for his first televised debate (September 26th - Domestic Policy focus) against John McCain.