It’s Time for Some Specifics

With the announcement recently of the federal bailout of insurance titan AIG, this country’s financial house continues to shake on shifting sands.

That decision marks the fifth major company where the Feds have had to step in and exercise damage control. I have to be candid when I say I’m disappointed in the anemic responses from our two presidential contenders. I know these are heady issues with a lot of complex, moving parts and econometric repercussions, but that’s what leadership is all about — stepping in and calling some shots. It’s the same scenario and expectation of our candidates when they spoke up regarding Russia’s invasion of Georgia. They each made a specific, compelling case for their respective sides, and let the public decide which plan made the most sense.

On this domestic crisis, I’m really only hearing more political pabulum. I think Sen. Obama said “Wall Street greed” for the 79th time in three days yesterday. And you can bet he said more than that in the tony Beverly Hills homes of the mega-wealthy last night while Lehman employees packed it in.

It’s high time we heard some specific policy proposals from Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain. Just how would they “end corporate greed” that got us in this mess? If it took the better part of 16 months to figure out where, exactly, this all began, do they honestly think putting a stop to corporate golden parachutes and allowing more transparency in the system are the magical cures?

C’mon. To his credit, Sen. McCain was calling for some massive reforms to Fannie and Freddie as early as 2005. That counts for something in my book, because it shows he’s paying attention.

But let’s check all the populist happy-talk at the door now and start issuing some well-conceived plans on cleaning up this financial mess. After all, both of these guys say they’re ready to lead on day one. Well, it looks like you have your shot, about 63 days early …

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