Searchers and Planners: McCain and Obama

First, a quick statement: I was a big fan of The White Man's Burden.  This is not the first time I read the book, so rather than comment on a passage, an argument, etc., I thought I would apply it by identifying McCain and Obama as Searchers or Planners.

Easterly's argument is simple: economic intervention is bad, has always been bad and will always be bad (I'm over generalizing a bit, but not by much).  Markets, he argues, will help the poor to a greater degree than foreign aid or the IMF and the World Bank ever could.  His argument provides data and historical analysis to drive home his point.

Assuming that his argument is correct, we should hope that our governments should be more laissez-faire (Searcher style) than regulated and taxed (Planner style).  So what are McCain and Obama?  Searchers or Planners?

Obama is a Planner.  He promises to double foreign aid as President and as a Senator, he introduced a Global Tax Proposal which would commit the US to giving away $845 Billion in aid by 2013.  Obama is a quintessential Planner.

McCain is not a perfect Searcher, though he is certainly more of a Searcher than Obama.  McCain voted to cap our foreign aid at $12.7 Billion (admittedly, I'm not sure if this makes him a Searcher or a Planner).  McCain took a very Searcher approach at a CGI event in New York, stating, "Aid is not the whole answer.  We need to promote growth and opportunities, especially for women, where they do not currently exist.  Too often, trade restrictions - combined with costly agricultural subsidies for the special interests - choke off the opportunities for poor farmers and workers abroad to help themselves."