Obama, McCain and the bankrupcy of Lehman Brothers

When yesterday Paul Krugman wrote in his New York Times column about the possible financial collapse of Lehman Brothers, it was not yet 100% sure it would happen and here in the French Riviera it was just a too beautiful day to have gloomy thoughts. We should have known better. Specially the people who were visiting the Boat Show in Cannes. I mean, not me or the friends that were with me (we were just along enjoying the beauty of those boats for sale) but those serious buyers who had come ready to buy. They were the ones to worry as some of them could be seriously hurt financially.
This morning, when I got up and saw the news in CNN, I thought about some of those visitors and for once I did not have any wish to be on their shoes. A little later, reading more on line I realized that this debacle is going to cost us all. As the day went on and first in Europe and then in the US the markets began to tumble, the enormity of what had happened was getting clear. When Henry Paulson, the US Treasury secretary decided not to put more public funds on the line Lehman Brothers could do nothing else but to file for bankruptcy which it did becoming the largest financial firm to fail in the global credit crisis. Adding to this, two other major financial firms were also in trouble. Investment banker Merrill Lynch will be purchased by Bank of America and insurance giant AIG was scrambling for a plan to restructure. As Mr Krugman wrote “ Mr. Paulson seems to be betting that the financial system — bolstered, it must be said, by those special credit lines — can handle the shock of a Lehman failure. We’ll find out soon whether he was brave or foolish.”
And not only this is going to have a global financial effect, as we can see in the world markets already, but also political. This is an unique opportunity to be used by the US politicians in their quest for the presidency. The one -Obama or McCain- who can define and exploit this situation will get the big prize. And surely, Obama has better chances of doing so. If this is eventually perceived as another crash, people will associate it with the Republicans, having occurred on their watch. The chances of McCain to survive it are rather slim. So here comes the real test for Obama, who should put aside his pride and borrow the sentence who defined the Clinton campaign in 1992 , “It’s the economy stupid” and follow it. A better opportunity he could not have had. In a few days, according to what Obama does we should see if in reality he has that special quality his campaign and followers claim or he is just a mere politician.