“…the fundamentals of our economy are strong.” – John McCain, September 15, 2008
When John McCain woke up two years ago this morning, he likely felt buoyant about his prospects for winning the presidency. His surprise selection of the nearly-unknown first term governor of Alaska, Sarah Palin, as his running mate had infused his campaign with much-needed energy and–combined with the typical bump provided by the recently concluded Republican National Convention–brought him to a two-point lead over opponent Barack Obama in the 2008 Gallup Tracking Poll.
McCain was in Jacksonville, Florida on September 14, 2008 and was scheduled to appear at the local fairgrounds for a pancake breakfast. But the crowd of approximately 3,000 that had gathered was too large for that location to handle, so the event was moved inside to a nearby indoor arena. Here, McCain–making his first appearance without Palin since they left the convention over a week earlier–spoke to the the crowd and addressed the anxiety that was tightening its hold on the economy and the minds of the American electorate. Amidst the tanking of the stock market (shown on screen as he was speaking) and the looming implosion of the housing market, McCain said, “”There’s tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and on Wall Street. People are frightened by these events. Our economy, I think still, the fundamentals of our economy are strong. But these are very, very difficult times.”
The Obama campaign seized on this unforced error as the McCain team scrambled to control the damage. From Obama came steady charges that the detached negligence reflected by McCain’s words was more evidence for his case that, “John McCain just doesn’t get it.” McCain ineptly responded that by fundamentals he was “obviously” referring to American workers, who were productive, resilient, and the backbone of the economy.
Two days later, McCain trailed Obama by two points in the Gallup Poll; three days after that he was behind by six points. McCain would never again lead the eventual President Obama in the Gallup Poll and would end up losing the election by over seven percentage points.
The remaining seven weeks of the campaign were witness to various attempts by McCain to dig out of the hole deepened by his “fundamentals” gaffe. Included among these attempts was McCain’s failed gambit to postpone the first scheduled debate between him and Obama, due to what he was now calling a “crisis.” Obama rejected this ploy, explaining, “It’s my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who…will be responsible for dealing with this mess…It is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once.”
Because of the severe disconnect between the dire economic situation and the inept and inaccurate reassurance of McCain’s words, it is likely that this verbal wreck will have a secure place in the annals of presidential campaign blunders and it will certainly be the key quote for those who seek to understand the events and significance of the presidential election of 2008.
