The straight talk about the economy McCain should have delivered

By Dennis Byrne
Chicago Tribune

John McCain's speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination was awful. Yes, it yanked the "change" flag out of Barack Obama's hands and planted it on the GOP's ramparts, and yes, McCain admirably ripped his own party, and yes, there were touching moments of personal revelation.

But the speech was disorganized, overly vetted, sometimes banal, sometimes self-centered and devoid of forthright and realistic discussion of what bothers most voters: a sagging economy. What was needed was some straight talk, which I have provided here: "We've been hearing for years now that we're in or approaching a recession. Gentlepeople, by any measure, we are not in a recession, but if we keep talking like down-in-the-mouth Democrats do, we'll certainly sink into one.

"Yes, we're in an economic 'slowdown,' or whatever you call it. I needn't go over the particulars; Democrats will gladly list them. They've assigned themselves to remind you how miserable you are, even if you're not. Yes, some Americans are hurting, others are uncertain and worried. But I'll tell you a truth: We've talked ourselves into this slowdown, and we can talk ourselves out of it.

"Trace the source of many of today's economic problems, and you'll find yourself at the same starting point: housing. The problems with banks, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the collapse of the mortgage market, all stem from the crumbling of the housing market. And why did the housing market crumble? During the preceding exuberant housing market, we were constantly told that it would collapse, and so, like any self-fulfilling prophecy, it did. Sure, higher energy costs also have taken their toll, but when it comes right down to it, the constant battering of our economic condition by Democrats and the media for partisan purposes has pulled us down.

"We know how much we can trust their analysis, don't we. They are the sages who from the beginning of the Iraq War predicted that we were plunging Iraq into a civil war. Week after week, month after month, we were told that a civil war was raging or about to rage. Well, we know how much baloney that turned out to be.

"So, too, with their drumbeat announcing approaching economic disaster. Say it often enough, and you'll make it so. Predict it long enough, and it will happen. Never mind that the economy is cyclical and that sooner or later, the economy will go down, just as surely as it will go up, if we let it. They are bound to be right, like a stopped clock, twice. We are inundated with cries of 'We must do something. We must do more!'

"Truth is, friends, not even an American president, with all his powers, can significantly change the course of a $14 trillion economy. I know these are hard words to hear, but any candidate who says he can is lying. Yes, we can work around the edges of the economy, softening its impact when things are bad, and do what we can to help those—as we certainly should—who are struggling. We can fiddle around with monetary policy, reduce our national debt and lower taxes. I'm not suggesting that we're powerless. But to blame or credit a single man, whether it be George W. Bush or Bill Clinton for a bad—or good—economy is simple-minded demagoguery. Or to expect one man to 'fix' it is preposterous.

"The Democratic Party is the Dismal Party. We never know how bad we have it until Democrats inform us. Their words of 'hope' ring hollow in the face of their perpetual warnings and their ever-present belittlement of the present. Democrats see calamity, we sense opportunity.

"Someone once said, 'The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.' You see, prosperity is not just an economic condition; it also is a state of mind. Without a positive, prosperous state of mind, we're done.

"My friends, from this moment, when we speak of 'hope,' we need to understand that hope arises from inside ourselves, not from some government program or intervention that arrives on our doorstep. Hope is a reflection of ourselves, our mind's health, our confidence, vigor and inventiveness. Americans never have been in short supply of such qualities, and we need to rekindle them. We will not buy the Democratic woe-is-us line. We are Americans, owners of the world's greatest economy. Woe is not us."

Now that would be real straight talk.