McCain Emerges as Master Economic Flip-Flopper: Gene Sperling

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McCain Emerges as Master Economic Flip-Flopper: Gene Sperling

Commentary by Gene Sperling



June 6 (Bloomberg) -- Back in 2005, a friend asked if I should be careful about praising John McCain for his votes against George W. Bush's upper-income tax cuts in 2001 and 2003. After all, he warned, he might become the next Republican presidential nominee.

My reply was, suppose McCain maintained his position that, as he put it in 2001: ``I cannot in good conscience support a tax cut in which so many of the benefits go to the most fortunate among us, at the expense of middle-class Americans who most need tax relief.''

Suppose he did hold to his 2003 opposition to increasing the deficit through tax cuts during a time of war. On what grounds could I criticize him?

In spite of the advice from my friends, I went ahead and applauded McCain for both stands in my 2005 book ``The Pro-Growth Progressive.''

This is now a non-issue. McCain, who would like us to see him as holding a consistent and principled stance on tax cuts and fiscal discipline, is engaging in the mother of all economic policy flip-flops.

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(Gene Sperling, formerly President Bill Clinton's top economic adviser, is a Bloomberg News columnist. He is a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund and advised Hillary Clinton in her bid for the 2008 presidential nomination. The opinions expressed are his own.)