Transcripts

Commentary: The Value of the Economy to the Election

SUSIE GHARIB: Tonight's commentator says the economy has become the key issue in the 2008 presidential race. Here's Chrystia Freeland, U.S. managing editor at "The Financial Times."

CHRYSTIA FREELAND, US MANAGING EDITOR, FINANCIAL TIMES: I believe most Americans want their next president to remind them of the guy they work with, not the guy who laid them off. That's been of the most memorable one-liners of the 2008 presidential race and the most striking thing about it is that wasn't fired off by a populist Democrat. This zinger came from Mike Huckabee and was aimed at the guy whose corporate resume makes him what you think would be the pro-business party's dream candidate, Mitt Romney.

Huckabee's sideswipe was one of the first signs of what could be a decisive shift in the campaign. Last year, presidential staples like foreign policy and irresistible water-cooler topics like the Oprah endorsement, seemed to dominate the debate. But as the economy has slipped into what some commentators think is the beginning of a recession, the White House winning phrase of one former presidential campaign has started to have more resonance: it's the economy, stupid! As in 1992, this year's woes seem likely to favor the Democrats. For one thing, it is easier for them to blame the party in power and call for a sharp shift. Traditional Democratic policies, like universal healthcare, also have greater appeal when Americans start worrying about losing their jobs.

For the rest of the world, the big question is whether the contestants will be able to resist blaming outsiders for America's economic troubles. As Middle Eastern and Asian sovereign wealth funds gobble up ever bigger chunks of Wall Street's flagship institutions that may become tempting, indeed. I'm Chrystia Freeland.