Senator John McCain made quite a show yesterday of announcing that he is suspending his campaign and withdrawing from the first presidential debate so that he can return to Washington to join the gaggle of those negotiating terms of the $700 billion financial bailout legislation now pending in Congress. And, to demonstrate his much-vaunted leadership, he informed the American people that he has asked Barack Obama to join him.
Senator Barack Obama then countered by making quite a show of announcing that it was he who took the lead in asking McCain to join him in drafting a joint statement of principles to guide the bailout negotiators. And to demonstrate his much-vaunted calm under pressure, he informed the American people that he saw no reason to suspend his campaign or withdraw from the debate.
Specifically, Obama insisted that:
It’s my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess. It’s going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once.
I agree.
Frankly, I don’t see how any reasonable person can disagree with Obama’s approach to this crisis. After all, everyone familiar with the way legislation is drafted in Washington knows full well that senators normally just state their positions and leave it to congressional staffers and experts to work out the details.
This is why Obama reiterated the four guiding principles he wants to see codified in this bailout legislation, namely:
1. A ban on generous payouts for irresponsible CEOs on Wall Street.
2. Replacing Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s absolute authority over the bailout’s execution with a bipartisan independent board.
3. An investor stake for taxpayers.
4. Assistance for people who are in danger of foreclosure.
Therefore, it is patently clear that McCain is grandstanding; especially given his admission that he doesn’t know anything about the economy, which, no doubt, is why he was insisting just days ago that the economy is “fundamentally sound.”
In fact, the notion of John McCain flying in to Washington to save the country from economic catastrophe is every bit as absurd as that of Sarah Palin flying over to Europe to broker a truce between the Georgians and Russians.
Not to mention the fact that according to Senator Chuck Schumer (D. N.Y), Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee in charge of drafting it, there was already “consensus” on this legislation even before McCain decided to play the role of white knight. Incidentally, Schumer dismissed those still opposed as just “a few real outliers on the far right or the far left in Congress.”
But, to be fair, the Associated Press accused both candidates of playing politics as follows:
Even as McCain said he was putting the good of the country ahead of politics, his surprise announcement was clearly political. It was an attempt to try to outmaneuver Obama on an issue in which he’s trailing, the economy, as the Democrat gains in polls….
Obama, too, made a political calculation by rejecting McCain’s challenge [to suspend campaigning and cancel Friday’s debate] while trying to still appear on top of the problem.
In the end, however, President George W. Bush (remember him?) may have outmaneuvered both presidential wannabes. Because he made quite a show of announcing – during an address to the nation on this crisis last night – that he summoned McCain and Obama to appear at the White House today for a photo op, which he hopes will make it clear to the American people the he’s the man with the “rescue plan” to save the nation.
To make his case, Bush warned that:
Our entire economy is in danger. Without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into a financial panic and a distressing scenario would unfold.
Of course, this is the same president who warned that, without a preemptive strike on Iraq, Americans could wake up to a mushroom nuclear cloud over Los Angeles or New York City. But I hope the American people won’t hold that against him, because he really means it this time … and he’s right!
Accordingly, I predict the debate will be held tomorrow night as scheduled and that Congress will pass this $700 billion bailout legislation by the time the financial markets open on Monday morning. All of which will expose McCain’s decision to suspend his campaign and his attempt to cancel the debate as nothing more than a reactionary, hair-trigger political stunt.
UPDATE
September 26 at 12:03 pm: Despite his purportedly principled reasons for suspending his campaign and canceling the debate, McCain will end up doing neither. Because, even though he pulled a few commercials, reports are that he never suspended his campaign. And, even though he declared that he would not show up for the debate unless a bailout deal was done, he’s now on his way to that debate with a deal even less certain today than it was yesterday when he flew in on a reactionary, hair-trigger pledge to broker one.
So much for that political stunt….
But the moderator of tonight’s debate should make a point of asking McCain the following multi-part question:
Senator McCain, you have said that this election is all about leadership. But what does it say about your leadership that you would unilaterally blow up the years of hard work, to say nothing of the millions of dollars, that the good people of Mississippi invested to prepare for tonight’s debate, to rush to a meeting in Washington because you felt your input there was necessary to avert a national economic catastrophe, but during which you sat virtually deaf, dumb and mute while others, including your opponent Senator Obama, discussed the issues at stake, only to have you then suddenly decide that you will come after all to the place where you detonated that political bomb just 24 hours ago, expecting it to be prepared to host this presidential debate, but leaving behind the national economic crisis in Washington in even greater disarray than it was when you parachuted in to solve it….
Can you appreciate, Senator, that your behaviour during this economic crisis gives the American people the impression that your method of decision making might be too impulsive, erratic and inconsiderate to have you serve as commander in chief; do you appreciate that if we had relied on your leadership, none of us would be here tonight for this very important first presidential debate; and finally, Senator, don’t you think you owe our host, the University of Mississippi, an apology?
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