How many homes do you own?
22 August 2008 7:24 am by Taylor Marsh
Reporting from Santa Fe, New Mexico
I don’t own a home. Granted, I’m not like your average American. I’ve never owned a home. I don’t
know if I ever will. Frankly, that’s never been a goal of mine, for many reasons. But I can tell
you one thing. If I did own a home, or two, or three, I’d know it. I’d also
be able to tell you how many without feeling embarrassed about it or trying
to hide it.
While I was unconnected yesterday during travel, quite
a kerfuffle kicked up.
On Wednesday, McCain expressed uncertainty over the exact number of homes
he owned.“I think — I’ll have my staff get to you,” he said
in an interview with Politico. “It’s condominiums where —
I’ll have them get to you.”…
Stung by the slap, McCain’s team hit back. Of course, they went for the jugular.
Sean Hannity had fresh talking points on Tony Rezko on his radio show yesterday.
Detailing the drama that never went anywhere, which I’ve also covered, Hannity
forgot to leave out that all of Rezko’s maneuverings never implicated the Democratic
nominee at all. That said, this was all so predictable, especially since Hannity
and the wingnut brigade will make sure to detail every dynamic, making the simple
look incredibly complicated and very obviously much worse than it was. Ill advised
to deal with Rezko when he was under investigation, yes. Did Obama do anything
else wrong? Absolutely not.
As for McCain and his homes, well, it’s not every man who’s kept by his 100
million dollar wife. Though for the record, my husband would love it if I had
that kind of cash. Ah, but I don’t. I’d settle for a fraction of it.
So when divvying up the “elitist” credentials let’s not forget that this stuff matters to some of us. Oh, and by the way, USA Today reports that McCain actually has 12
houses. I have no idea. I can say that someone who can’t keep track of the number
of houses he has is also a lot more likely to believe the economy is doing better
than it is. McCain’s said as much in interviews. Out of touch doesn’t come close
to McCain’s cluelessness on the economy. It’s likely why he also doesn’t believe
in equal pay for women.
That’s why it’s so so striking that with all the blather back and forth
between these two guys the obvious still rings out. Neither of the presidential
candidates have what it takes on their own, either the empathy or the political
touch, to connect to voters on an economic level, especially in the share your
pain department, but more importantly on the What are you going to do about?
it column. Only one person does. Her name is Hillary Clinton. It’s yet
another reason why Obama should pick her as his veep.
Even many Obama supporters are now convinced. I get these every day now:
Subject: It’s Hill Time
Message: as an Obama die hard who came to your site (and sent you some emails)
during the primaries to get some “tough love from the opposition”,
i think i’ve come around to agreeing with you. Now mind you, i was never a
“Hillary hater”, and i’ve always been open to her being the VP,
but now i’ve gone from being open to the idea, to thinking that she’s the
best person for the VP role WSJ poll said Obama is still only pulling 50%
of Hillary voters, with 20% defecting to McCain. I’ve always said that all
Obama needed was the HRC voters to support him, and McCain losses. HRC and
Obama expanded the Dem party so much, they would not need too many Crossover
Rs/indies, just focus on an HRC/Obama coalition was enough to get you to 52
or 53%. Not enought for a 55 or 57% “transformation” Victory, but
enough for a regular victory. I say now he should forget about a “transfomation”
victory and just go for the win, that’s the most important thing. Bring HRC
on. I don’t care about her baggage. Everyone’s got baggage. We need her voters,
and getting her on the ticket is the most direct way to her voters, and therefore
the most direct way to a victory. She can fight, she can attack, she knows
her policy, she got huge balls, bigger than his (ok, that was harsh to both
of them, but you know what i mean) – AR
I sure do. Though it could be too late.
