Buckeye RINO

At 5 pm today, the 23rd, I participated on the “Blog Bunker” program on Indie Talk 110, on Sirius, a subscription satellite radio medium.  The host for today was Joe Salzone.  He dedicated the entire show to the Wall Street meltdown and the bailout proposal before Congress.  I wanted to talk a bit about how that issue plays out in Ohio, especially from the perspective of a McCain supporter.  Mr. Salzone is one of those rare persons supporting Bob Barr.  The host was very gracious.  He allowed callers to have their say without interruption. The callers were excellent, and a few had some very poignant information to share.

I had to admit that polls show that voters favor Obama on the economy.  I acknowledged that Republicans in Congress are divided about how to proceed.  I also conceded that John McCain is still gathering and processing information on the matter, and is still crafting his approach to the matter.  I credited Ron Paul with being accurate in his predictions about our economy.  I acknowledged that there is plenty of blame to go around between Wall Street, the White House, past Presidential Administrations, and both parties in Congress.

I opined that McCain is still in the hunt because of his reassuring message of reform and his leadership image.  I opined that Obama hadn’t closed the deal yet because his economic proposals, as presented at townhall meetings, are often buried deep in a stump speech that is devoted mostly to blaming Bush, Wall Street lobbyists, and Republicans in Congress, notably McCain.  While the Obama camp may hope that he is capable of portraying McCain as Herbert Hoover, it hardly seems the stuff of leadership to just rant and rant and rant about McCain without putting his own proposals front and center, first and foremost.  By contrast, McCain and Palin have been highlighting their proposals BEFORE delving into their prepared stump speeches. They don’t dwell for dozens of minutes on end on playing the blame game, but they do spread the blame to everyone, including those in their party.  They reiterate that they’ve both had to upbraid members of their own party from time to time in order to do the right thing.  Their prepared stump speeches then reinforce their reform message, and coupling that message with that image of leadership has kept McCain from falling far behind Obama in Ohio.

I counted myself among those who are opposed to the bailout.  I noted how long the Japanese financial crisis has dragged on because they also attempted some artificial market interventions to soften the blow.  I said that we do need accountability, enforcement of existing regulations, correction and introduction of other regulations, plus more effective oversight, but I’m not in favor of socializing the financial sector and using $700 billion of taxpayer funds to bail out Wall Street.  I expressed skepticism that the bailouts would stave of severe economic shocks.  I am of the opinion that whether we proceed with bailouts or not, that other dominoes will fall, and that severe economic shocks will follow, so, why proceed with bailouts?  If we don’t proceed with bailouts, but we put good governance structures and regulations in place, I think the market can correct itself faster than if we proceed with bailouts.  I also admonished that families need to prepare themselves for future economic shocks, mentioning a prior blog article that encouraged families to stockpile household goods to better weather the bigger economic storm that may be headed our way.

The conversation was quickly-paced.  I’m not sure that I was always relevant or on point or had my wits about me all the time, but I had fun.