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Published in The New York Post on September 25, 2008
Facing a postconvention fall in the polls, John McCain once again reshaped the dimensions of the race by suspending his campaign and calling for postponement of tomorrow’s debate.
This bold move could have an impact on the race akin to McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate. Defensively, McCain had to act to stop the fall in his poll numbers.
Offensively, he has placed himself at the epicenter of the only issue on the national agenda - proactive action to stop a total international financial collapse.
Obama’s response to McCain’s initiative is lame. As with his initial reaction to Sarah Palin, Obama has miscalculated.
While he tries to spin McCain’s move as a mere response to his initiative, it was the Republican who first issued the call for a suspension of the campaigns.
Both McCain and Obama will now go to Washington. McCain on his own initiative. Obama as a result of the president’s call for an economic summit.
But it is McCain who will play the proactive role. Obama will come to Washington, but will keep one foot outside the Beltway.
Even though the president has called both candidates to Washington to save the country, Obama continues to campaign. Politics as usual.
He doesn’t want to cancel the debate. He would debate while the markets burn.
McCain is going to work while Obama is phoning it in.
Oddly, McCain and Obama agree on the bailout package. But it is only McCain who can pass the bill. Only McCain can deliver the administration and the Republicans.
McCain will be at the center of the process, managing it through to success while Obama lingers on the outskirts, irrelevant and uninvolved.
McCain will pass Barack Obama’s bill (which parallels his own proposals), and will get the credit for it.
There are compelling reasons why McCain may be saving his campaign by this bold move.
McCain’s entry into the legislative foray personalizes the economy issue.
As long as McCain stayed away from Washington, it was the Democrats against the Republicans. Polls give the Democrats the edge. But voters trust McCain personally more than they trust Obama to manage his way out of a crisis.
By showing up in Washington, McCain makes the issue personal, not partisan.
And the rescue legislation will pass. Washington has no alternative but to act. And it probably will work. The markets will calm down. The bailout legislation will have done it.
Including the Democratic amendments, it will become a fairly popular piece of legislation and it will have been McCain’s bill. Obama can claim authorship, but it will have been McCain who will have brought the Administration into line.
Once the bill is passed, McCain will have the credentials to go on the offensive and warn of the impact of Obama’s tax increases on the recovery.
Had McCain not acted, Republican opposition to big government might have doomed the economy and destroyed Republican hopes.
By going to Washington, McCain makes it imperative that the Republicans pass the legislation. His presence makes it an issue of party survival in a way that lame duck Bush could never do.
As Woody Allen said “half of life is just showing up.”
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Comments
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American people are extremely skeptical about top-down directives imposed under “emergency”situations and demand bottom-up solutions to stipulated facts. In this case, they demand a consumer-driven solution to the Wall Street mortgage meltdown rather than the same old top-down CEO-driven practices that led to these problems in the first place.
Sam Stein hit the nail right on the target; “We’re trying to rescue the economy, not the McCain campaign,” said Rep. Barney Frank.
“I’m delighted that John is expressing himself on this issue,” said Chris Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee. “I have heard form Obama numerous occasions these last couple days. I have never heard from John McCain on the issue… I’m just worried a little bit that sort of politicizing this problem, sort of flying in here, I’m beginning to think this is more of a rescue plan for John McCain and not a rescue plan for the economy.”
It is just another John McCain’s transparent ploy to stall the rising Obama campaign. Neither he nor Obama are the prime movers in the Senate on the issue of a bailout. Their job is to fight for the presidency, and it’s one that Obama is winning right now.
No question about it. McCain is making a political issue out of the crisis while Obama is focused solely on getting the right solution for the American people….excuse me while I throw up.
On Tuesday Harry Reid took his favorite spot in front of the cameras and chastised McCain for not being involved then 24 hours later berated him for coming to Washington. Chris Dodd somehow manages the same flip-flop in one breath making a myth out of the proposition that you can’t suck and blow at the same time.
The best Obama could do was to brag that he can “multi-task” and therefore doesn’t need to be focused on this one issue. I suppose its easy to multi-task when you plan to vote “absent” or “present”. I can now imagine if Russia were nuking NY Obama would be thumbing a note to his staff on his B-berry to remind him to take the offense to the UN.
I truly don’t know if this plan will help restore confidence in the system but I would sure hate to see Congress do nothing and find out they were wrong. Even Bill Clinton pointed out that on every previous US bailout the treasury has made money over time including the Clinton era loan to Mexico. The risk of action is low.
I for one want to see both McCain and Obama do what they believe they can do and get the bill passed in the improved form being proposed. If that means skipping breakfast, lunch or the debate then so be it. I fail to see how partisan yapping about foreign policy and National security, the planned focus of the debate, is going to help avoid a financial meltdown. Its time for both to roll up their sleeves, get in the trenches and get the job done.
Hell even Bush has belatedly figured out he needs to lead on this one. Big improvement over his “multi-tasking” on 9/11 and Katrina.
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