Thank God for Rush Limbaugh
Terry Trippany on Oct 08 2008 at 11:59 am | Filed under: Election 2008, Feature Article
I’m having lunch right now listening to Rush. He has his finger on the pulse of conservative sentiment and it is clear that I am not alone in my feelings about John McCain, the maverick.
But Rush put it in clear terms, saying we are going to have to drag McCain across the finish line and deal with the McCain administration once it is in place. The alternative is Barack Obama. Glimmer of hope. This is the kind of pick me up I need.
On another note Ed Morrisey at Hot Air has confirmed that the McCain home mortgage buy-up plan does not include any additional fund requests. Call me a skeptic but let’s assume that it will turn out that way. I haven’t been sold.
But there is one thing noted in Morrisey’s article that makes some sense referring to the inability of the government to negotiate with each and every principle involved with mortgage backed securities.
I’ve consulted an economist on this point, and he points out that the trouble with MBSs is that they consist of pieces of several loans. That’s what will make renegotiating terms through the private sector almost impossible — it will require hundreds of people to agree on each one. He thinks that McCain’s proposal will create a shortcut that will allow for quick renegotiation, which could keep many of these mortgages from going into default.
The McCain campaign confirmed with me that the $300 billion McCain referenced was part of the existing bailout, not an additional outlay. He wants it redirected into this effort. I’ve asked for a link, and I’ll add it when I get it.
The McCain camp held a conference call this morning to explain what is being called the McCain Campaign Resurgence Plan as noted by Marc Ambinder:
On a conference call with reporters, McCain policy chief Douglas Holtz-Eakin spelled out how McCain would pay for his plan for the government to buy troubled mortgages and replace when with more favorable fixed-rate mortgages at minimal direct cost to the homeowners. The government could use some of the $700 billion authorized for the bailout and tap other accounts, although the campaign estimates that, owing to negative equity — the government can’t magically turn bad mortgages into good ones without taking a hit — would be $300 billion. The McCain team hopes that by buying mortgages directly, the government wouldn’t have to buy as many distressed assets from big banks, thus reducing the net cost. McCain claims this idea as his own, although the bailout/rescue bill already gives the government the authority to deal directly with homeowners, and Obama has suggested that the government do the same — although McCain’s certainly being more aggressive here.
Why propose this now? Holtz-Eakin said that to have done so during the middle of the debate would have injected an element of instability and potentially compromised the rescue plan’s passage. The proposal certainly seemed to have caught even McCain’s surrogates off guard; they had not been prepped to answer questions about it. The media didn’t quite know what to think, and there hasn’t been too much attention paid to this yet, even though it’s a bold and expensive idea. If McCain can sell this cleanly, it’s a real opportunity for him to get economically anxious voters to associate something positive with his candidacy.
I am a little less steamed at the moment. I understand that people are worried about the economy, you’d be stupid not to be. But I think John McCain can tie Obama at best with the current approach on that issue.
The one area where John McCain can beat Obama is on character. I once said that the people that my President doesn’t judge is just as important as the ones he does. Barack Obama continually fails that test. This election is still John McCAin’s to lose. The ball is in his court.
