John McCain Places the Supple Part of His Neck Under Obama’s Boot and Invites Him to Put the Pedal to the Metal

You may recall that on the very day the economy was melting down, John McCain said, “the fundamentals of our economy are strong.”  Obama seized on the comment and produced this ad:

Well, yesterday, Barack Obama said this:

Through the magic of editing, it sounds like Obama is parroting John McCain.  The McCain campaign is now running this ad in response:

The problem is that Obama was talking about the fundamentals of his economic plan, not the economy.  Here’s what Obama said:

“We don’t just need a plan for bankers and investors, we need a plan for autoworkers and teachers and small business owners,” Obama said. “I have said it before and I’ll say it again: we need to pass, after this immediate crisis is over, an economic stimulus plan. Right now. For working families – a plan that will help folks cope with rising food and gas prices, that can save one million jobs by rebuilding our schools and our roads, and help states and cities avoid budget cuts and tax increases. A plan that would extend expiring unemployment benefits. For those Americans who have lost their jobs and have been working hard to find a new one, but haven’t found one yet. That’s part of the change we need.

“And then after this immediate problem, we’ve got the long-term fundamentals that will really make sure this economy grows. Change means a tax code that doesn’t reward the lobbyists who wrote it, but the American workers and small businesses that deserve it. As president I am going to eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses and start-ups. That’s how we’ll grow our economy and create the high-wage, high-tech jobs of tomorrow.”

Citing Jake Tapper, Allah says that the Obama camp isn’t being truthful about what happened on the Hill yesterday. Without digging into the ABC story, I concede the point in exchange for this bit of straight talk from the A deity:

[The McCain ad is] [a] bare-knuckle spot but one for which Maverick will end up taking a beating. . .

As I understand him [Obama], he’s saying that the long-term fundamentals are currently bad, which is why we need a hard dose of Hopenchange to make them grow, not that the fundamentals are “strong,” as McCain (initially) claimed. Pretty shady of Maverick, but one good turn deserves another.