March 27, 2008
Vive la Difference!
I saw yesterday that Senator Obama had assailed Senator McCain for his taking a "wait and see" attitude like President Bush on the <JAWS Soundtrack swells up>housing crisis!</JAWS Soundtrack swells up>
On one hand, I am happy to have an ideological election. Senator Kerry hid his liberal light under a bushel in 2004 and neither VP Gore nor Governor Bush ran as firebrands in 2000. No doubt Obama will try to tack to the center in the general, but he has laid markers in the debates. We can really discuss the role of government this fall.
On the other hand, part of me is worried about the choice our nation will make. There is an American drive to do something. I cannot believe that lasseiz faire does well in focus groups, even though I am a big fan. The Wall Street Journal Ed Page nails the situation today, in a lead editorial that looks at the differences.
The media coverage of Mr. McCain's speech has portrayed his approach as laissez-faire, and the Clinton and Barack Obama campaigns quickly assailed it on those grounds. But that's true only in the sense that Mr. McCain didn't endorse any vast, new government rescue of bankers or borrowers. If this is laissez-faire, we've come a long way from Adam Smith.
I'll suggest that McCain offered as close to lasseiz faire as is practicable, and very likely went too close. Hands-off is not the press' first choice. And look at what awaits on the other side of the aisle:
Mrs. Clinton called this week for "immediate, bold" action "to unfreeze our mortgage markets." To that end, she would immediately freeze our mortgage markets. She wants a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures coupled with a five-year rate freeze on adjustable-rate mortgages.This would amount to the broadest price controls in the U.S. economy since the Nixon Administration. Mr. Obama has said this abrogation of contracts would do nothing to help the market clear and would only drive up borrowing costs. For this accurate observation, the Clinton campaign said Mr. Obama was "to the right of the Bush Administration."
Here's to clear choices -- here's to the right ones.