All week the big question has been which candidate will find his sea legs first on the economic crisis. Both campaigns were struggling, and both candidates sounded pretty bad. Judging from the last two days, though, it certainly seems like John McCain is the one finding his way to a strong message. It makes sense, since his larger economic plan is so much better suited to this kind of moment than Obama’s, but it has still taken a little while. Today’s speech in Green Bay, noted below, is exactly the right message for McCain on the particulars of the Wall Street and housing crisis, on Obama’s Fannie and Freddie connections and other vulnerabilities, and on what he’s proposing for economic growth and (especially) for the middle class, which I think he outlines more effectively in this speech than he has anywhere before. If he memorizes this for the debates, Obama’s in trouble, especially as the Obama campaign is still very publicly grasping for something to say.