The fundamentalists of our economy are wrong

From an adaptation of Henry Paulson's new memoir On the Brink: Inside the Race to Stop the Collapse of the Global Financial System. This is when John McCain suspended his presidential campaign in September 2008 to "focus on the economy." Paulson was weary that a presidential candidate who knew little or nothing about the economy wanted to hold an, ahem, economic meeting:

Then Obama sketched the broad outlines of the problem and stressed the need for immediate action. He said the Democrats had been working closely with me; he ran through the rough terms of the morning's discussion on the Hill, then mentioned the need for adjustments on oversight and executive compensation, as well as help for homeowners. He spoke without notes -- much less a teleprompter -- and spoke eloquently. "The Democrats will deliver the votes," he asserted.

Then he sprang the trap that the Democrats had set: "Yesterday, Senator McCain and I issued a joint statement, saying in one voice that this is no time to be playing politics. And on the way here, we were on the brink of a deal..."

But, of course, there was no deal yet. ...Skipping protocol, the president turned to McCain to offer him a chance to respond: "I think it's fair that I give you the chance to speak next."

But McCain demurred. "I'll wait my turn," he said. It was an incredible moment, in every sense. This was supposed to be McCain's meeting -- he'd called it, not the president, who had simply accommodated the Republican candidate's wishes. Now it looked as if McCain had no plan at all -- his idea had been to suspend his campaign and summon us all to this meeting.

Then chatter and partisan throat-grabbing ensued. The final blow was dealt after that.

Finally, raising his voice over the din, Obama said loudly, "I'd like to hear what Senator McCain has to say, since we haven't heard from him yet."

The room went silent and all eyes shifted to McCain, who sat quietly in his chair, holding a single note card. He glanced at it quickly and proceeded to make a few general points...

As he spoke, I could see Obama chuckling. McCain's comments were anticlimactic, to say the least. ...[H]e had little to say in the forum he himself had called.