A Month in the Life

The key question everyone should be asking before going to the polls next month is "who is the real leader in this race?".

The problems we face in this country are huge and the solutions are elusive. The unfolding financial crisis has unsettled the body politic even more than the lingering effects of a long, unpopular war. There is no clear path to a solution out of the mess we're in. Both McCain and Obama voted for the huge bailout bill which passed both houses of Congress last week. Today, the markets seemed not to care that Congress supposedly "fixed" the problem. So no one seems to know what the next move is. President Bush, the lamest of lame ducks, cannot reassure the public enough to stop panic selling. The bottom line is that our country desperately needs a leader right now who can speak with clarity and authority....whose vision is both rational and communicable to the average citizen.

There is no better situation to evaluate a leader's mettle than in the throes of a crisis. Thus, McCain's and Obama's responses to unexpected and troubling events at home and abroad over the past few weeks are illuminating.

When Russia invaded a democratic neighbor, Georgia, on the eve of the Olympics, McCain was unequivocal and strong in his denunciation of the Russian Soviet-style aggression that harked back to the Cold War era. Obama's response was more timid and in fact evolved over a few days until he finally got around to McCain's position. Clearly, McCain won that round on leadership.

On the recent financial crisis, both candidates have been disappointing. While Congress was under intense pressure to pass the unprecedented and unpopular bailout bill, arguably the most significant piece of economic legislation since the New Deal, Obama's initial reaction was to stay on the campaign trail, far away from D.C. His basic response to the biggest financial crisis of a generation was "if you need me, call me"...not inspiring words from one who wants to ascend to the presidency in just three months. See Obama's timid response here:





While Obama initially wanted no part in the bailout negotiations. McCain went whole hog, suspended his campaign, threatened to sit out the first debate, and rushed back to Washington, ostensibly because his leadership was needed in the Republican caucus. Yes, the move smelled like a political stunt, but it probably would have worked to bolster McCain as someone who can forge compromises and actually get something done if in fact McCain actually did something once he got back to DC. The problem was that, from all accounts, McCain's presence at the negotiation table had a negligible effect and, indeed, the initial legislation went down in a blaze of glory. Clearly, McCain was not the leader that he thought he could be on this issue. The result was McCain's image as a leader took a major hit. His actions were labeled a campaign stunt and his campaign has been reeling ever since. In my opinion, McCain missed a golden opportunity in the first debate to rail against the pork-laden, Wall Street bailout and to call out the Democratic leaders for their excessive partisanship as well as their own culpability in the current economic crisis.

So, who is the real leader in this race? Clearly, McCain is a maverick, a war hero, a long-time Washington pol who has bucked his own party on many occasions. But his marks as a leader are mixed at best. Obama clearly is an opportunistic politician with a thin resume. We haven't had an opportunity to fully evaluate his leadership skills because he really hasn't led anything. In the few opportunities that he has had in this campaign to show real leadership qualities, Obama has been a big disappointment.