"A nation of whiners"
Posted by: The Economist | WASHINGTON
IN case you haven't read, Phil Gramm, the former senator from Texas and one of the men who is supposedly tutoring John McCain on economics, said some controversial things about the economy this week. America, he said, is in a “mental recession” and that the country is “a nation of whiners”. Surely, insulting voters is a good way to help your candidate lose an election. And his implication that things aren’t so bad in America right now doesn’t jibe with what either candidate is saying or with what Americans are feeling.
Barack Obama pounced this afternoon:
"Today one of (McCain's) top economic advisors, former Sen. Phil Gramm said that we're merely in a 'mental recession,'" Obama told a crowd of 2,800 at a town hall meeting in Fairfax, Virginia Thursday.
"He didn't say this, but I guess what he meant was that it's a figment of your imagination, these high gas prices. Senator Gramm then deemed the United States – and I quote, 'a nation of whiners.' Ho! A nation of whiners. This comes after Sen. McCain recently admitted that his energy proposals for the gas tax holiday and the drilling will have mainly quote 'psychological benefits.' I want all of you to know that America already has one Dr. Phil. We don't need another one when it comes to the economy. We need somebody to actually solve the economy. It's not just a figment of your imagination, it's not all in your head," Obama told the crowd.
Mr McCain piled on:
"I don't agree with Sen. Gramm," McCain said, "I believe that the person here in Michigan that just lost his job isn't suffering from a 'mental recession.' I believe that the mother here in Michigan or around America who is trying to get enough money here to educate her children isn't whining. America is in great difficulty and we are experiencing enormous economic challenges as well as others," adding, "Phil Gramm does not speak for me, I speak for me. So I strongly disagree."
To his credit, Mr Gramm stood firm:
"I'm not going to retract any of it. Every word I said was true," said Gramm.
"Look, the economy is bad. It is far below what we Americans have a right to expect, but we are not in a recession," he said. "We may or may not have one in the future, but based on the data we are not in a recession. But that does not mean all this talk does not have a psychological impact."
Indeed, Mr Gramm has the luxury of being right about a lot here. The candidates are selling an overblown narrative of Americans’ current suffering. Certainly, those who have lost jobs or homes this year have reason to be upset, and commodities prices are rising, forcing families to rethink their budgets. But even as the country teeters on the brink of recession, Americans enjoy a standard of living their parents could only dream of. Far from getting worse, life in America has gotten substantially better in the last decade by any number of indicators, and the economy is hardly a shambles. And yet, consumer confidence is plumbing surprisingly low depths.
So what can Mr Gramm expect to get for his honesty?
Asked whether Gramm could secure a cabinet position in a McCain administration, McCain said sarcastically, "I think Sen. Gramm would be in serious consideration for ambassador of Belarus, although I'm not sure the citizens of Minsk would welcome that."
Phil Gramm Comment
