David Corn: Obama Has Edge Over McCain On Bad Job News

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http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/davidcorn/2008/06/obama-has-edge-over-mccain-on.html

Obama Has Edge Over McCain On Bad Job News

By David Corn | June 6, 2008 10:26 AM

Here's the McCain-Obama face-off--at least the domestic side of it--in a nutshell. This morning the latest jobs numbers came out, and the news was bad: the U.S. economy lost another 49,000 jobs and unemployment increase half a point to 5.5 percent. Immediately both campaigns put out statements. Let's compare.

From Obama:

Today's jobs report is deeply troubling. Last month, our economy lost 49,000 jobs and the unemployment rate saw the greatest rise in more than twenty years. This is a reminder that working families continue to bear the brunt of the failed Bush economic policies that John McCain wants to continue for another four years. In the first five months of 2008, our economy has lost 324,000 jobs, and workers' wages once again failed to keep pace with the skyrocketing cost of health care, and college tuition, and gas. That's why we can't afford John McCain's plan to spend billions of dollars on tax breaks for big corporations and wealthy CEOs, and that's why I'm offering change that will provide working families with a middle-class tax cut, affordable health care and college, and an energy plan that will create up to five million good-paying jobs that can't be outsourced. That's the change the American people are looking for, and that's how we'll build an economy of shared prosperity once more.

From McCain:

Today's news about unemployment is a stark reminder of the economic challenges facing American families. As the worst single monthly increase in the unemployment rate in two decades clearly shows, Americans across this country are hurting, and we must act now to support workers, families and employers alike. This means getting our economy back on track by providing immediate tax relief, enacting a HOME plan to help those facing foreclosure, lowering health care costs, investing in innovation, moving toward energy independence and opening foreign markets to our goods. These policies will help small businesses create the jobs that families need today. The American people cannot afford more inaction from Washington. The wrong change for our country would be an economic agenda based upon the policies of the past that advocate higher taxes, bigger government, government-run health care and greater isolationism. To help families at this critical time, we cannot afford to go backward as Senator Obama advocates.

Who's got the advantage? Obama, obviously. His position is clear and straightforward: the economic situation is terrible, current policies stink, Bush is to blame, I've got new ideas ready to roll. McCain has to acknowledge the current economic problems and tout his own policies (which are Bushian), but he cannot blast Bush, though he says the country "cannot afford more inaction from Washington," which is an indirect shot at Bush. He's left defining "change" as advancing Bush-like policies, and he has to slam Obama's "change" as nothing but backward movement. That's a tough political sell. McCain better hope the economic news is better in the months ahead.