John McCain's claim that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong," uttered just before the financial crisis turned dire, may go down as one of the great blunders of presidential-campaign history. "Senator McCain, what economy are you talking about?" Barack Obama exclaimed hours after the words escaped his opponent's mouth. The mocking TV ads soon followed, and as the weeks wore on and financial jitters gave way to near collapse and certain recession, McCain's statement began to evoke unsettling memories of Herbert Hoover, who said similar things in the early 1930s.
Less likely to be...