This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: October 10, 2008 - We all know that even the most unexpected crises – from 9/11 to last spring’s flood – usually follow a somewhat predictable path. Disaster strikes. Experts analyze the causes and consequences. Leaders take predictable sides and argue over remedies. Through intervention or time, the crisis passes.
Not this time. What scares me most about the current economic crisis is that everything and everyone seem off script.
Disaster strikes – evident early at Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, AIG and so on.
Experts point to mortgage failures as the heart of a much larger problem but have no idea where the tentacles of that beast might strike next. Economic sages freely admit they have no idea what’s really going on.
Leaders stake out positions that are totally out of character. Erstwhile free-marketeer George Bush and old-line liberal Barney Frank twist arms for passage of the financial bailout bill, renamed economic rescue and festooned with add-ons to garner votes. The right and left wings of the Missouri congressional delegation find common ground, with Reps. Todd Akin and William Lacy Clay both voting no.
Intervention and time pass, but there’s no end to the crisis in sight.
In the midst of this unfathomable crisis, we’re having an election. What scares me most about that is too many politicians seem to be on script. In any crisis, most of them can be counted on to calculate what will work to their advantage. That’s what many of them seem to be doing now.
Generally, the calculus looks favorable for Democrats. Voters want change, and they tend to trust Democrats more to deal with tough economic times. Republican poll numbers are dropping despite the McCain-Palin maverick strategy.
Democrats, to be sure, are not morally superior creatures. They’re perfectly willing to take the low road if circumstances dictate, though they're rarely very skillful in doing so.
But it’s the Republicans who need to change the momentum this time. And so, right on script, the GOP ticket and its allies have resorted to attacks on Obama’s character that essentially add up to fear mongering. Who is this man? Why is he consorting with domestic terrorists? And so on.
This is resonating strongly in some corners. Recent accounts of McCain-Palin rallies document shouts from the crowd at the mention of Obama’s name – from “Socialist” to “Kill him.”
A Washington Post story about a rally in Wisconsin described raw anger as the dominant emotion. And who can blame people for being upset? Our economy is falling apart, our world is unpredictable. Unfortunately, it’s only logical for feelings to run hot – and especially so for people who really believe Obama consorts with terrorists.
That’s why something scares me more than the unpredictable economic crisis or the predictable political campaign. What scares me most is the potentially explosive combination of the two. Fear and demonization are a powerful combination, and I will not even begin to speculate where they might lead.
Suffice it to say that circumstances offer an opportunity for McCain, the maverick, to write a new script. How truly courageous it would be for him to calm the waters, not roil them, to find common ground with Obama rather than demonizing him. More than anything McCain has said or done in the campaign so far, this would establish his claim as a true maverick, a real candidate of change.
Friday, McCain showed the first signs of doing just that. He assured a Minnesota rally that Obama is "a decent person and a person you don't have to be scared of as president." The crowd booed. (Read Politico's story.)
Obama, too, has an opportunity to write a new script – to lay out realistically what we must sacrifice to overcome this crisis rather than simply playing on and benefiting from the vague notion that together we can do anything.
President Franklin Roosevelt famously said we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Let’s hope these presidential candidates are equally wise in easing the very real fears that confront us now.