Who do you think is right?

Who is the most effective? Well, I certainly think that.. when one does not know what to say.. it is best to say nothing. McCain wants to appear to be a leader, but it doesn't seem as if he really knows what is best here. However, because he wants to appear as a leader he feels compelled to offer an opinion. People seem to like their leaders to say something even when they don't know something. :) So, as the case is laid out, I think Obama is correct in being reserved to a certain degree in this situation. It is good, in a situation like this, to spend more time listening than talking. This is where wisdom is found. As far as the collapse of the bailout, that was an interesting turn of events. The democrats came out strongly as a party in favor of doing 'something' but the republicans came out strongly opposed. The republicans, the party that held back, seems to have blamed the democrats for the failure of the bill to pass. As if the Democrats should be able to pass the bill despite their refusal to back it. And, I think the Republican party did that intentionally. See, the $700 billion dollar bailout is unpopular with "main street" as they like to call commoners nowadays. People don't like the idea that rich people can take needless chances and then get bailed out on 'our dime.' The Republicans want to seem connected to the rural voters. (This is ironic, because Republicans vote for and support the needs of the rich wealthy elite. Their tactics and strategies do not well serve main-street because they are always directed at the elite. Notice, they always seem to favor trickle down economics. The idea being "if I give money to rich people, the poor people will get some." So, the Republicans draw their support from people who's interests they don't really look out for. It is an interesting quirk.) The idea would be to push the 'blame' for the bailout on the Democrates while giving it just enough support to pass. The bailout would have helped stabilize the interests of the rich elite, which the Republicans want, but they needed to appear in line with their voters from "main street." Politics and political maneuvering can be interesting to watch sometimes.

The fact is, this is all happening very quickly. This bailout plan was practically thrown together and anybody that read the fine print was smart enough to get away from it while they could. As a tax payer, I don't want to give anybody a 700 billion dollar blank check. There is supposedly an oversight group for this money but the bill had no enforcement provisions or penalties if this money is misspent. From what I understand, there was actually language in the bill that said the loans could not be investigated. Why are we bailing out these companies if we are not going to try to prevent this happening again??? Also, the plan would not prevent one forclosure from happening. Not one! So basically, we financially back these mega companies but have essentially done nothing additional for the american public, except take more money that could be more appropriately spent on health care or education or just putting money back into an economy that desperately needs it. McCain is trying to come across as this very proactive politician. A hero, once again, in a time of crisis...but that's not what he's doing at all. He's running into something head first that not only is he ill-prepared to deal with, but he could potentially make it a lot worse. If that bill had passed (and thank God it didn't), we would have a much harder week on our hands with things to come. Everybody, from politicians to wall street, are trying to profit from this mess. It's time we stepped back and took a look at the big picture. Our knee jerk reactions need to stop. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are very important companies but they screwed up. Let them deal with the consequences. I think Obama is very much right in distancing himself. He has things to say about it but he knows that he alone is not going to have the solution and it might not be RIGHT NOW. I believe that he will work with those that might have a better idea about it and back a plan that will be much better for all involved, including you and me.

I am not really sure anymore because I am confused also about how it was supposed to help us to begin with. I thought it was going to be on the taxpayers to pay it back so I was not for it anyway. We can barely afford to live now.