Former senator (and McCain advisor) Phil Graham took a lot of heat by saying that Americans are in a “mental recession” and have become “a nation of whiners.” As you would expect, McCain was quick to distance himself from Graham, and Obama used it as an opportunity to take shots at both.
While it was a poor choice of words, it is important to put Graham’s statements in context. His subsequent comments do just that. “You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline…We’ve never been more dominant; we’ve never had more natural advantages than we have today.”
Today, the AP reports that U.S. exports are at a record high and the trade gap decreased much more than economists expected ($2.4 billion below forecasts). I doubt that this news will vindicate Graham – the media is way too busy whining.
