McCain suspends campaign to focus on the Economic Crisis
September 24th, 2008Earlier today, Obama contacted McCain about creating a joint statement about the economic crisis. The losing McCain campaign subsequently decided to use the crisis as a chance to delay/postpone Friday’s first debate. No word yet if this crisis will affect the October 2 debate between Palin and Biden. I’m sure the McCain camp would LOVE that to be the first salvo during this crisis – outsider Palin vs old Senator Biden. It’s exactly the reverse of the dynamic they’re trying to hide from now.
Some obvious questions…
- Really?!?
- Does Washington really need McCain’s economic insights right now?
- Who sees this move of stopping the politicking to go act leaderesque/presidential as anything other than pure politicking (apart from Sean Hannity, I mean)?
The McCain campaign has continued to lose steam after his illiquid asset (using Henry Paulson’s language) of a vice president was selected. Their campaign is a couple of days away from a free fall. Every additional syllable they utter causes their campaign’s stock to drop. If Friday’s debate goes on as scheduled – Obama is up by 10 points nationally by next week.
A crisis doesn’t mean the candidates should answer FEWER questions but more. It’s more important to know what this situation means to them and how they think we should move forward. Postponing/canceling a debate to hide behind handlers in a time of crisis is John McCain as Jimmy Carter. It’s phony and doesn’t work. This is just another silly tactic meant to distract the country from the empty package they’re selling.
Reader Jacob noted some of the key policy differences between Obama and McCain on the subject of Cap and Trade and free trade. I hope to heck we get to hear these candidates talk about it at some point.
– Steve
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