Presidential profiles—McCain

Mortgage Banking, Sept, 2008 by Walter White

Should McCain be elected president, we can expect his administration will reach out to bipartisan business leaders and colleagues across the aisle--such as Sen. Joseph Lieber-man (I-Connecticut).

Position on the GSEs

McCain is perceived by most as a "foreign policy candidate," but he has also kept his eye on domestic policy. He recognized the vulnerability of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to the 24-month run-up in home-price appreciation during the 2003-2005 period that we know now was a huge housing bubble waiting to burst.

Speaking of the dramatic decline in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's stock value in July, Peter Wallison, Arthur F. Burns Fellow in Financial Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute, Washington, D.C., cited McCain as being "one of the few lawmakers who saw this as a financial disaster waiting to happen, and in both 2003 and 2005 introduced legislation that would have substantially tightened Fannie and Freddie's regulation." Wallison added, "If McCain's legislation had become law, it is very likely that the current crisis concerning Fannie and Freddie would not have occurred."

In 2003, McCain introduced legislation for a Corporate Subsidy Reform Commission, which would have reviewed the government's subsidies to private companies such as Fannie and Freddie. In 2005, he co-sponsored, with a small group of other Republicans in the Senate, the Federal Housing Enterprises Regulatory Reform Act--which would have imposed tighter regulatory oversight on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The legislative efforts stalled in committee, notwithstanding the efforts of McCain.

In campaign mode

McCain is viewed as not conservative enough for some Republicans. That showed early on in the 2008 Republican primary as McCain struggled out of the gates. He stayed "on message," per his operatives, but fell behind in fundraising and popularity compared with the well-organized Mitt Romney and the well-known Rudy Giuliani. The early loss in Iowa left McCain vulnerable to party doubt.

But then McCain pushed his handlers aside and grabbed the wheel back by calling for and then embracing the "surge" strategy in Iraq and promoting core Republican values of tax breaks, jobs and economic prosperity. The campaign started to click, and he won New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.

By May's Super Tuesday, McCain had for all intents and purposes locked down the nomination. He did so officially on March 4, when fellow GOP candidate Mike Huckabee was mathematically eliminated from contention. The "Straight Talk Express" was back on track with McCain at the helm and with a new economic adviser--Holtz-Eakin.

McCain as nominee

Over the years, and through the bitter political primaries in 2000, McCain has always been a strong supporter of government reform. When he toured the Hurricane Katrina--ravaged communities in late April, he said, "I want to assure the people of the Ninth Ward, the people of New Orleans, the people of this country: Never again, never again will a disaster of this nature be handled in the terrible and disgraceful way this was handled. Never again."