McCain came out boldly today with a brand new plan featuring specific changes to ensure the viability of the bailout. Oh, wait. The specifics are not brand new. Most of them were in Obama's response to the initial bailout details emerging over the weekend.
This past Sunday, Obama responded to the emerging details of the bailout plan. He put forward specific principles that would guide his ultimate response to the bailout:
First, there must be no blank check when American taxpayers are on the hook for this much money.
Second, taxpayers shouldn't be spending a dime to reward CEOs on Wall Street.
Third, taxpayers should be protected and should be able to recoup this investment.
Fourth, this plan has to help homeowners stay in their homes.
Fifth, this is a global crisis, and the United States must insist that other nations join us in helping secure the financial markets.
Sixth, we need to start putting in place the rules of the road I've been calling for for years to prevent this from ever happening again.
And finally, this plan can't just be a plan for Wall Street, it has to be a plan for Main Street.
McCain went out on a limb and proposed a bipartisan committee. I know. We'll study the problem.
McCain will propose a bipartisan committee made up of economic experts such as Warren Buffet (who supports Barack Obama), Mitt Romney (a McCain supporter), and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg (an independent). Since Paulson may not be the Treasury Secretary after the election, McCain argues, he is asking for a "high level oversight board" to impose a rigorous standard of who gets help and who does not.
But as more details of the plan emerged, and as more economic experts started taking specific shots against the most egregious points of the Paulson proposal, McCain decided to take a bold new approach to the problem, announcing his demand for 5 basic improvements:
He's calling for further accountability and oversight over the Treasury Department's distribution of funds; a way for taxpayers to recoup an outlay that could reach $1 trillion; a bill crafted in open; a provision barring the CEO of any bailed out firm from receiving a salary higher than best-paid government official; and a bill absent of earmarked projects.
So basically it took him three days to remove the provisions that would help Main Street, and replace them with a demand that the bill be absent of earmarks. Because, you know, with the entire world crawling over the bailout plan with a fine tooth comb, someone might stick in an earmark here or there to, I don’t know, study the sex habits of Alaskan crabs?
In the greatest economic crisis facing our nation in our lifetime, it's nice to know McCain can provide leadership. As long as he's got 3 days and someone to cheat off.