Coan ’09: McCain can’t handle economy

Written by James Coan ’09 and organized by a group of students composed largely of staff from the Princeton Progressive Nation (PPN), a left-of-center campus magazine, the demonstration targets the Republican presidential nominee for what the students see as his weakness on economic policy.

The comedic performance “questions Sen. John McCain’s knowledge and preparedness on the economy,” according to a statement distributed by the organizers.

The skit features a fictional economics teacher and McCain in an economics class. Students play both characters, wearing T-shirts that designate their roles.

“I could be McCain’s Econ 101 Teacher” is printed on the front of the teacher’s shirt and “The issue of economics is not something I’ve understood as well as I should,” which McCain said in December 2007, is on the back.

The student’s T-shirt has the same quote on the front and “John McCain, Class Rank 894 out of 898” printed on the back.

The idea, which began with the shirts, stemmed from “a need to relay the message that the country needs someone who feels confident about running the economy and someone who has thought deeply about economics in the office of the president,” Coan said.

The skit aims to deliver a message that is tailored to college students. “Only college students can express that John McCain knows less about economics than many of them,” Coan explained.

The skit is not intended as a personal attack on the candidate. “We mean no disrespect,” said Erin Sherman ’11, who played John McCain at a performance Wednesday. “We just mean to express concern with one area of McCain’s background, not to undermine his whole person.”

The organizers hope to stir dialogue and “get a response from the conservatives on campus and see how they defend the Republican candidate,” Sherman added.

Despite the humor of the situation, Coan said, “the implication of the skit can be quite troubling. Not having a basic knowledge of economics makes it unclear how or on what basis McCain would choose policy if his advisers ever disagreed.”

College Republicans president Andrew Malcolm ’09, however, said in an e-mail that “the suggestion is laughable.”

“John McCain is a proven reformer who has been working on economic issues for over 20 years, especially during his tenure as Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee,” Malcolm said, adding that “I think Princeton students, like most Americans, are too savvy to be persuaded by a misleading comedy sketch.”

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Students worried about the existing economic situation, though, have been drawn to the performance.

“I’m participating because it is an issue I am concerned about, especially with recent economic problems,” Kelsey Brooks ’11 said. “I think it’s important for our future president to know basic economics, and McCain has stated he doesn’t.”

Though the College Democrats have not officially supported the skit, it “serves to reinforce, in a humorous way, the College Democrats’ message that the McCain-Palin ticket is the wrong choice for our country,” College Democrats president Rob Weiss ’09 said in an e-mail.

“The ‘I Could Be McCain’s Econ 101 Teacher’ demonstration serves to vividly communicate an important and valid concern that at a time of unprecedented financial crisis, the presidential nominee for the Republican party is someone who is, by his own admission, ignorant about economics,” Weiss added.

The organizers of the skit aim to spread its message beyond the University community. “We want to get the message across to anyone that will listen and reach as broad an audience as we can,” PPN editor-in-chief Aaron Abelson ’11 said.

Students involved in the performance are in the process of contacting other colleges that might be willing to perform the skit on their own campuses.

“We’ve done the hard part,” Coan said. “All they need is someone who has taken Economics 101, a desk, a whiteboard and someone willing to play McCain as an economics student,” he explained, adding that the skit only takes 45 minutes to perform.