McCain: The Biggest Long-Term Economic Threat to the US is … Terrorism?

The latest issue of Fortune has caused quite a stir in political circles due to some extremely bad judgment on the part of McCain chief strategist Charlie Black. In an article about McCain’s evolution, Black went on the record with reporter David Whitford saying that a terrorist attack on the United States in the coming months would be, “a big advantage to [McCain].”

The stir came not over the content of the revelation — which is painfully obvious — but its source. Chief campaign strategists are not supposed to be quite so forthcoming, especially when it comes to fearmongering tactics that have earned widespread repudiation in recent years.

Still, fearmongering appears to be the only tactic the McCain campaign can come up with at this juncture. In the same issue of Fortune, McCain answered the question, “what do you see as the gravest long-term threat to the U.S. economy?” by saying:

I would think that the absolute gravest threat is the struggle that we’re in against Islamic extremism, which can affect, if they prevail, our very existence. Another successful attack on the United States of America could have devastating consequences.

I suppose that Islamic extremism is also the biggest threat to the environment, to the education of our children, and to our health care system. I’m sure that McCain could find a way to spin them as such, anyway.

I don’t mean to downplay the potential economic impact of another terrorist attack. Such things have tremendous impact on the national psyche, but only because we let them. The only exception would be a nuclear attack, something that Obama has worked tirelessly to prevent via nonproliferation legislation.

But I digress from the economic argument, which is as one blogger put it, “science fiction territory.” The Israelis have to put up with the daily threat of suicide bombers, and yet their economy hums along. Even their war with Hezbollah in 2006 didn’t significantly derail their prosperity.

If politicians stopped talking about another 9/11-style terrorist attack as though it were a catastrophe on the scale of Hiroshima, perhaps our economy wouldn’t go into massive spasms when such things occur. Of course, that would undermine the whole point of McCain’s campaign of fear.