McCain’s Blue Bell revamp

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

This week both presidential hopefuls are highlighting changes to their respective economic agendas in what’s looking more and more like tug of war over the middle class.

McCain, who’s trailing on the economy, served up a few new slices of his revamped economic plan to a charged audience earlier today in Blue Bell, Penn.

In an impassioned speech, McCain declared that Wall Street’s days of concealing liability from the public are over and then promised to order the department of treasury to guarantee all savings accounts for the first six months of his presidency and eliminate all taxes on unemployment benefits.

But peppered in with those shiny offerings were more familiar leftovers, like the proposed one-year spending freeze and vows to reach across the aisle to control spending. McCain also criticized Obama’s refurbished plan as “reckless” and an “invitation to capital flight.”

For his closing remarks McCain made what seemed like an odd and clumsy transition to his tried-and-true POW narrative in a talk about economic reform. He told the crowd he knows well the feel of fear and hopelessness and called upon the American people to fight.

Don’t give up hope. Be strong. Have courage. And fight.

Fight for a new direction for our country.

Fight for what’s right for America.

Fight to clean up the mess of corruption, infighting and selfishness in Washington.

Fight to get our economy out of the ditch and back in the lead….

Stand up, stand up, stand up and fight. America is worth fighting for. Nothing is inevitable here. We never give up. We never quit. We never hide from history. We make history….”

But fight whom or what exactly? Wall Street? Mortgage lenders?

When it comes to mastering the terms and truths of what’s evolved into an incredibly messy dialogue on the failing economy in a way that translates across the board to confused and worried voters, both candidates have a long way to go. McCain hardly closed the gap with today’s latest punt. And tomorrow’s debate is going to make for a terribly long evening if both candidates continue to pin their solutions on the jargon of their old, or newly amended, economic plans.