Shame On Obama & McCain
Steve Adubato, Ph.D.
CBS 2 Political Analyst

With Wall Street melting before our eyes and the American economy looking like it's on life support, you would expect more from our presidential candidates than finger pointing, blaming, and pandering.

Think about how many people have lost their jobs or huge portions of their portfolio, which represents their life savings. Think about how many people are wondering how they are supposed to now pay for their kids to go to college, and take care of themselves in their retirement. And consider how many people are barely holding onto their homes because they can't pay the mortgage. Workers are getting laid off and companies are pulling back and putting off plans to expand. People are scared; they are panicking. And what do we get from our presidential candidates?

Barack Obama simply says that John McCain is nothing more than another George Bush, who Obama blames for all our economic problems. What a joke. Obama knows better than that. George Bush hasn't helped and seems as clueless as ever, but he's not the reason Lehman Brothers and AIG have crumbled before our eyes. Further, blaming John McCain because he's a Republican won't help anyone get their jobs back or the money they lost on Wall Street, but that doesn't stop Obama from delivering his pithy and pathetic one-liners attacking McCain.

As for McCain, it's scary. Earlier in the week, he said the fundamentals in our economy are strong— at the same time the Lehman Brothers' fiasco was taking place. He would later say he was referring to the "American workers" of the economy. Then Sarah Palin blamed the media for taking McCain's comments out of context. She's a big help. McCain also blamed Obama saying he was trying to take advantage of the country's economic troubles. What is that supposed to mean? Isn't that what McCain and the Republicans have done on the issue of national security and defense? Aren't they saying McCain would be stronger than Obama in those areas? It is okay if the Republicans do it, but if the Democrats do it, that's bad?

One would hope, with the country having so many economic problems, that the two candidates for president could take a step back and think about what the country really needs right now. I'm talking about a sobering, candid discussion on what a president can do to get us back on the right track. The truth is, no matter who gets elected, there is no magic bullet, no panacea; a president can't "fix" what's ailing our economy or Wall Street.

But don't expect Barack Obama and John McCain to say that.

It would help if they could give substantive, specific advice— offer specific proposals— but that seems too complicated and too difficult for them. Rather, they engage in distractions and play the blame game at its worse. You know we're in trouble when the economy is floundering and McCain runs an ad about Obama promoting sex education in kindergarten— and we in the media cover it as if it's important or relevant.

Call me naïve, but I was just hoping that people who choose to run and serve as president might have taken this economic calamity a little more seriously and understood they have an important role to play. Instead, we get dopey one-liners and sound bytes saying the other guy is a bum. That's real helpful, don't you think? And you wonder why we're in the mess we're in.

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