On The Turning Away

According to Jay Cost at RealClearPolitics.com, one of the sensible metrics “has been more or less operative since the election of 1840: if the economy tanks during a Republican administration, vote Democrat. If it tanks during a Democratic administration, vote Republican.”

Applying this rule to 2008, we get the following. McCain, because he is of the incumbent party, gets the political harm. Obama, because he is of the out party, gets the political benefit. That’s all there is to it.

Since Lehman went belly up on September 15, the markets have gone over a cliff. Which means, with less than a month to go, that Sen. McCain’s fortunes are, largely, “out of his control”. Still, one can’t help wondering about the propitious timing for Dems.