Obama: Fundamentals Are Stong

Seeking to reassure the Chinese government that their investments in T-bills are sound, President Obama asserted yesterday that despite current turmoil in the global markets, the US economy and political structure remains stable. At a gathering of reporters shortly after his meeting with Brazilian President Ignacio Lula da Silva, the President said "And so I think that not just the Chinese government, but every investor, can have absolute confidence in the soundness of investments in the United States...and that is not just in U.S.-issued Treasury notes, but also in the private sector and the commerce and the industry that has made this the most dynamic economy in the world."

Compare these sentiments with those expressed by candidate John McCain last September: "You know, there's been tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and Wall Street and it is -- people are frightened by these events. Our economy, I think, still the fundamentals of our economy are strong. But these are very, very difficult time. And I promise you, we will never put America in this position again. We will clean up Wall Street. We will reform government."

I recall many political commentators of the mainstream press at the time being quick to pounce on this statement as a sign of how out of touch McCain had become. Rereading his words this morning, they appear pretty innocuous; but the sentiment nevertheless echoes Obama's.

But where these words were once submitted as record to demonstrate incompetence, they are now held up as the soothing reassurance of a confident leader.