×
John McCain's suggestion that we need an oversight committee composed of people like "Warren Buffett, Michael Bloomberg, and Mitt Romney" is odd indeed. The only connection between those men is that they are politically involved rich guys with a business background. There's no evidence that Mitt Romney knows much about mortgage-backed securities, nor that Michael Bloomberg would be a good steward of Wall Street. It's just the sort of thing you say on TV because you need something to say and haven't thought of anything more compelling. It's of a piece with his decision to fire Chris Cox -- which he couldn't legally do -- and replace him with Andrew Cuomo, who bears no small share of responsibility for Fannie and Freddie's tumble into the subprime market. It's little different than his promise to rush back to Washington despite the fact that he hadn't even read the bill. Awhile ago, Max Bergmann wrote an essay on McCain's foreign policy hysterics that retains explanatory power for his current actions:
McCain’s approach and tone on foreign policy has always been more emblematic of a tv pundit rather than a sober president. While McCain has attacked Obama as the "celebrity" candidate, the fact is that a bad place to be over the last 25 years has been between John McCain and a TV camera. The New York Times on Sunday noted that one of the first things McCain did after 9-11 was go on just about every TV program - where he incidentally called for attacking about four countries. In its biographical series profiling the candidates the Times also noted that McCain was attracted to the celebrity of the Senate with one close associate noting that McCain “saw the glamour of it. I think he really got smitten with the celebrity of power.” McCain clearly enjoys being on television and he has been a constant commentator on the Sunday news shows and the evening talk news programs.But TV appearances encourage sound bites, over-the-top rhetoric, and good one-liners, not reasoned and nuanced diplomatic language. This is especially true from guests who are not in the current administration, since you are less likely to get invited back on Face the Nation if you down play a crisis or take a boring nuanced position. Thus on almost every crisis or incident over the last decade, McCain has sounded the alarm, ratcheted up the rhetoric and often called for military action - with almost no regards to the practical implications of such an approach.That's basically been his approach throughout the financial crisis, too. Lots of action and statements promising action, very little consideration of what those actions would mean. Fire Cox! Hire Cuomo! Bring the presidential candidates to the bailout negotiations! Delay the debates! Create an oversight commission of people I'm friendly with! It's hard to imagine how any of McCain's suggestions could emerge as the product of sustained thought about the nature of the crisis and the contours of effective solutions. But they've made for great TV, and lots of quotes. It's what the guy knows how to do. But it's not what the crisis requires.
