Party Favorites How is your candidate better equipped to handle Wall Street's financial crisis? It's still the economy, stupid

Author: Jessie Singleton

"It's the economy, stupid," Clinton advisor James Carville cleverly coined during the 1992 Presidential race against George H.W. Bush. In the years that followed, our economy achieved unprecedented success, bringing jobs to the unemployed, confidence to consumers and real income growth to all income brackets.

But as much as I'd like to talk about how great the '90s were (I really do love the '90s), the truth is that those glory years are nothing but a distant memory. After eight years of failed Bush policy, our economy has tumbled into crisis-mode. The recipe for disaster is no secret; start with tax cuts for the super wealthy and no relief for working families, add in a soaring national debt, mix with $10 billion/month for Iraq borrowed from the Chinese, and while you're at it, promote the "anything goes" culture of Wall Street. Let cook for almost a decade and you get skyrocketing home foreclosures, 600,000 unemployed Americans since January (that number just got bigger in the post-Lehman world), gas prices at an all-time high, and a disappearing middle class.

That's how the Republicans got us here. How can we fix it? Hint: the answer is not "Drill, Baby, Drill!" or the "MFI" as the McCain-Palin talking points suggest.

We can fix it by calling for mutual responsibility within every sphere, from Washington to Wall Street to Wasilla, by empowering individuals with the tools they need to succeed in the changing workplace, and by congratulating the working families of America with the tax relief they need to buy groceries, pay for gas, and save to send kids to college. We can fix this by electing Obama, who will send a $1,000 tax break to middle-class families, push a stimulus package to save over one million jobs, create five million new green jobs, and use government to protect investments and pensions.

Republicans think they can distract the voters from the economic realities with false attacks and pit bulls with talking points - but Americans know better. 16 years later, it's still the economy, stupid.