From The Washington Post
By E.J. Dionne Jr.

Hope vs. fear, new vs. old: Barack Obama and John McCain have placed their bets. These are the terms on which the 2008 presidential campaign will be decided.

That’s why it’s unfair for political bystanders to attack Obama and McCain for offering few specifics as to how they’d fix an ailing economy. And it’s foolish to ask them to jettison their campaign promises in order to pay homage to the God of Balanced Budgets.

Each campaign has given voters ample notice about the inclinations, temperaments, habits, philosophical leanings and advisers they would bring to the White House. That’s enough.

Piles of prescriptions would be useless because this crisis is moving so fast. New ideas could become obsolete in a few days — or require substantial redrafting on the run, as happened with McCain’s sketchy mortgage purchase plan floated during Tuesday’s debate.

In this financial catastrophe, last week’s unthinkable idea quickly becomes this week’s imperative. The Bush administration is wisely contemplating following the lead of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown in having government take ownership shares in many banks to get them more cash and allow them to lend again.

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