WASHINGTON — The crisis that has seized Wall Street over the last few days caught the campaigns of both Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain flat-footed.
Neither man has a demonstrated expertise on the issue and national polling shows that voters aren’t sure whether Obama or McCain would do a better job in managing the economy as president.
So, with both campaigns scrambling to win the issue over the next few days, washingtonpost.com’s “The Fix” column solicited the opinions of a handful of Republican and Democratic strategists, asking them what specifically they would advise their party’s candidate to do in the short term to stake their claim to this critical issue.
We collected and sorted the suggestions — which ranged from the zany to the downright ingenious. We picked the best five for each candidate and listed them below; some contradict one another but all seem to have solid strategic thinking behind them.
The names behind the suggestions have been withheld in order to let the operatives speak their minds without being seen as telling their party’s candidates (and his inner circle) what to do or not do.
OBAMA
1. Two-Day Ohio Tour: Obama should spend two full days traveling the Buckeye State with stops in cities ranging from the big (Cleveland) to the medium (Dayton) to the small (Zanesville). The suggested theme? “McCain’s strong fundamentals” playing off of the Arizona senator’s much-disputed statement Monday that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. Ohio was the central battleground of the 2004 election and the economic stresses have hammered the state in the intervening four years. Show Ohioans Obama isn’t just a gifted speaker; he understand better than McCain the problems faced by average middle class families.
2. Spend a Night At Home: With home foreclosures still a huge problem and many middle-class families worried about being able to make their monthly mortgage payments, Obama should spend a night at home with a family facing potential foreclosure — either in Nevada or Michigan, two of the battlegroundiest (is that a word) states in the country. This idea is along the lines of the Service Employees International Union’s “Walk a Day in their Shoes” campaign during the Democratic primaries but has the potential to produce great television images that ooze “empathy.”
3. A Series of Speeches: Obama’s greatest strength is his oratorical abilities. Use them. Follow the blueprint used to much success by President Bush in 2004 when he gave a series of speeches explaining and contextualizing the war in Iraq and the fight against terrorism. Use that framework and sub in the economy; in one speech tackle the pinch the economic crisis is putting on an average middle class family, in another lay out how small business are being impacted, in a third show — specifically — how an Obama administration would handle the economic problems different than has the current president. “Speeches are his wheelhouse and he needs to get back into his comfort zone,” said Phil Singer, a former adviser to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign. “He’s been trying to be someone else which has been cramping his style on the stump.”
4. Town Hall Tryout: Obama has largely avoided the sort of town halls that McCain has made his own during this campaign. Pick a series of white working-class neighborhoods and set up a series of economic-themed town halls over multiple days. Do more listening than talking. Obama tends to shy away a bit from the “I feel your pain” politics of President Clinton. Suck it up and wade into the crowd. Console people who are struggling, hug folks having hard times. Be, at least for a few days, the consoler in chief.
5. Sitdown with Lehman Brothers Staff: Don’t meet with the bigwigs and suits of the failed investment bank. Convene a roundtable with some of the support staff (administrative assistants, etc.) who are affected by the company veering into bankruptcy. Almost no one feels bad for the executives when these massive companies go through crises, knowing that these well-paid upper management types will survive without a hitch. But, there are also large numbers of employees at Lehman and other companies who are living paycheck to paycheck and will have their lives fundamentally altered by the bankruptcy. Put faces to these statistics and let them speak their minds about what’s wrong and how to fix it.
MCCAIN
1. Seek Out Regional Banks: The big banks of the United States are struggling badly. Highlight the idea that great ideas can come from the states by meeting one on one with a as many successful managers of regional banks as the McCain can find. (A side benefit of this idea: it reminds voters that McCain has a governor not a senator as his running mate.) Frame the meetings as a chance for McCain to hear what’s wrong with Washington — and New York City — from people out in the country. Embrace the cultural divide many people perceive between Washington/New York and the rest of the country.
2. Listening Tour of Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania: Like her or hate her, it’s hard to argue that Hillary Clinton’s 2000 listening tour throughout Upstate New York was anything less than a brilliant political tactic. It put her in front of hundreds of voters, allowing her to show an empathetic side and debunk the idea that she had horns and a tail. McCain, hamstrung somewhat by his past comments about the economy, could do the same with a multi-day, multi-state listening tour focused on the Rust Belt where the problems with the economy have cut the deepest.
3. Give a Speech, Name a Treasury Secretary: Pick a hotbed of deep economic thinking — one Republican operative suggested the University of Chicago — and lay out the argument for how to reform the economy in a way that is consistent with the principles of the free market. In that speech, name the man (or woman) that would be his pick for treasury secretary while also offering a vote of confidence for Henry Paulson and insisting that he would be a valued adviser (along with other economic big-brains including some Democrats) in a McCain Administration.
4. Palin (Speaking) Power: Palin is a a huge draw these days on the campaign trail. Use that popularity and her populist appeal to speak to middle and lower middle class voters in a swing state somewhere in the Midwest. One Republican strategist suggested a speech by Palin on tax cuts — strong territory for the GOP — in Wisconsin, a huge snowmobiling/snowmachining state where she has high name ID and obvious appeal. Use the speech to paint the Obama economic plan as a risk the country just can’t afford given the state of the economy.
5. Elevate Economic Gurus: While former Sen. Phil Gramm (he of the “nation of whiners” comment) is probably off the board, McCain has a stable of respected economic voices — from former CEOs Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina to two-time presidential candidate Steve Forbes and former vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp. McCain needs to flood the zone (with apologies to Howell Raines) with smart voices testifying to his ability to reform the economy and laying out the basic principles of the sort of change — and, importantly, break from the Bush economic policy — that he would offer.
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