SOME FRIENDLY ADVICE FOR SEN. MCCAIN: LIKE MIKE
Memo to Sen. John McCain:
Your well-deserved spring break is now over. With Sen. Barack Obama looking more and more like the Democratic nominee, it’s time to get serious about your least favorite subject – the economy.
Sure, you don’t like economics, most people don’t. And true to form, you’ve been refreshingly direct in confessing disdain for the dismal science.
“The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should,” you admitted in December. But with the economy most likely to be No. 1 on voters’ minds come November, the business of the economy is going to be job one for the next President. Here’s a battle-plan as the campaign starts to swing into full gear.
Item #1: Get serious. It’s not a badge of honor to brush off economic policy when millions of Americans are struggling to pay for a gallon of gas or a gallon of milk.
Item #2: Don’t pander. Your idea for a gas-tax holiday this summer was quickly copied by Sen. Hillary Clinton – only to blow up in her face.
The message here: voters like tax cuts but they are not stupid. When the economy is in the dumps, they demand real long-term solutions. Also, it’s hard to look like a green-friendly candidate while at the same time pushing a tax policy that would help people use more gas, not less.
Item #3: Set the record straight on housing. Several weeks ago you unnerved many in the green-eyeshade set with a proposal that would have banks offer zero-percent financing on homes, the same way GM did after the attacks of 9/11.
The fact that banks don’t manufacture and sell homes the way an automaker does autos appeared lost on you and your campaign.
Item #4: When it comes to economics, the first law is that of self-preservation. And in this campaign, being savvy about Wall Street will go a long way when it comes to the crucial business of raising money. So far, Wall Street has been less than generous to the McCain campaign and more than a few hedge fund biggies have admitted the perceived lack of economic sophistication is one reason why.
Item #5: Ignore items 1-4, and put Mayor Bloomberg on the ticket – the rest will take care of itself.
It’s not a long list, but an important one, especially in a year when the business of the economy is likely to be the top election issue for the first time since 1992.
TERRY KEENANis anchor of Cashin’ In, an investing program that appears on Fox News Channel on Saturday mornings at 11:30. E-mail terry.keenan@foxnews.com.