McCain demonstrated little understanding of the issue and prefers a "watch the collapse" approach. He then praised GM for offering 0% financing after the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks "as part of keeping the economy growing" and thought the mortgage lenders should do something similar. That leaves me speechless.
Clinton mostly pandered to voters and attacked others in her speech.
Obama began by discussing the differences between Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.
Hamilton met fierce opposition from Thomas Jefferson, who worried that this brand of capitalism would favor the interests of the few over the many. Jefferson preferred an agrarian economy because he believed that it would give individual landowners freedom, and that this freedom would nurture our democratic institutions. But despite their differences, there was one thing that Jefferson and Hamilton agreed on - that economic growth depended upon the talent and ingenuity of the American people; that in order to harness that talent, opportunity had to remain open to all; and that through education in particular, every American could climb the ladder of social and economic mobility, and achieve the American Dream.
In the more than two centuries since then, we have struggled to balance the same forces that confronted Hamilton and Jefferson - self-interest and community; markets and democracy; the concentration of wealth and power, and the necessity of transparency and opportunity for each and every citizen. Throughout this saga, Americans have pursued their dreams within a free market that has been the engine of America's progress. It's a market that has created a prosperity that is the envy of the world, and opportunity for generations of Americans. A market that has provided great rewards to the innovators and risk-takers who have made America a beacon for science, and technology, and discovery.
(this dichotomy is the quintessential essence of the American Idea as discussed in The Atlantic's November 2007 issue)
He then talks about the 200 year struggle between political power and economic power in context of the Great Depression and the New Deal. Then he discusses how the New Deal failed because it did not adapt.
In the end Senator Obama proposes a new framework for dealing with the housing crisis. I'm not sure the Pontiac driving public understands these nuanced and pragmatic arguments though; they're too busy staying uninformed.
If Senator Clinton continues with what is being called the Tonya Harding strategy Obama will become a monumental force in the Senate and could even overshadow a Hillary Clinton presidency.
