McCain and Wasteful Spending

by David Epstein

Is anyone else annoyed at how McCain says he'll stop wasteful spending and "make them (the wasteful spenders) famous?"

Why wait? Why not tell us right now who those wasteful spenders are, and what projects they're pushing to the detriment of the public at large? He must have a list of examples of what he's talking about. If it's such an emotional issue for him, how has he kept this information to himself all these years?

Comments

[Eric Chen]

I don't think it's a secret - it's all public record - but I also don't have high expectations for any President to be able to overhaul "wasteful spending" in government. First of all, the President has other things to do. Second, the change needs to happen in the legislature before the executive, and it requires a deep system-wide overhaul more than the ouster of a few bad apples. The money's there to be had, and without even accounting for petty self-interested corruption, there's too much incentive to guide money to (read: bribe for votes and support) local constituencies. It's the nature of the business. McCain would be in a better position to advocate fiscal responsibility as head of the GOP rather than as a Senator, but the necessary government cultural revolution is beyond any one man, especially a President who has more important things to do.

. . . but what if . . . what if Senator McCain chooses a VP with exceptional reformer credibility, who's aggressive and dynamic and a DC outsider, who isn't burdened by the responsibility load of the top executive, who can dedicate herself to running the government cultural revolution from her office in the White House, with the President's backing? That's not a possibility that Senators Obama and Biden can credibly represent in this election, but Senator McCain and Governor Palin can.