Not Doing Enough

After spending almost the entire editorial blasting Bush and McCain for their complicity in the financial crisis, and McCain’s manic swings from position to position, the New York Times editorial board throws this in:

Mr. Obama has been clearer on the magnitude and causes of the financial crisis. He has long called for robust regulation of the financial industry, and he said early on that a bailout must protect taxpayers. Mr. Obama also recognizes that the wealthy must pay more taxes or this country will never dig out of its deep financial hole. But as he does too often, Mr. Obama walked up to the edge of offering full prescriptions and stopped there.

This is almost as if they have to say something negative about Obama in an editorial that also lays (far more severely) into McCain. As best I can tell, what the NY Times editorial board is saying here is that, “Obama seems to understand what the problem is and how large it is, has long advocated our preferred cures for the current crisis and has been, in short, right on this before even the current crisis came about. But he hasn’t offered a specific, detailed plan.”

It’s not the job of presidential candidates to offer specific, detailed plans. In fact, I think it’s foolish to do so for a couple of reasons, not least of which being it has no chance of becoming law. Obama (and, lest we forget, McCain) are not on the relevant committees to deal with this crisis and the bailout deal. Sen. Dodd seems to be doing a fine job without either of them, and I think it would be best if they both avoided getting involved and trying to blatantly take credit for a plan that they A) didn’t write and B) aren’t in charge of.

Obama, should he be elected, won’t be president until January. He’s currently a senator, but he isn’t on any of the right committees. Offering his own plan on this would be entirely presumptuous and would open himself to attack by Republican surrogates of McCain, as well of McCain’s campaign itself. There’s no reason for Obama to go stepping on the toes of Chris Dodd or Barney Frank. The best thing he could do is exactly what he has done: outline what he feels like the major problems are, the things he’d like to see the bailout address and then step back and let the rest of his colleagues in Congress hash out the details.