Dear Friend and Reader:
AS MERCURY stationed retrograde today, John McCain put his presidential campaign on hold, and called for the first debates between himself and Barack Obama — scheduled for Friday, just 48 hours from now — to be postponed. Obama replied, essentially saying that yes, we can walk and chew gum at the same time and that the debates will go on as planned. [McCain has proposed that he and Obama take the slot originally planned for the vice presidential debate — duh.]
How exactly you put a presidential campaign on hold, we’re not sure. With Mercury involved, you can be pretty certain that a lot of people think it’s a stunt, and the chances are it probably is. Either that, or it’s The Onion acting up — but lately it’s been difficult to tell the difference between politics and political satire
It almost sounds like a trick to get Obama to suspend his campaign. “If I suspended mine, you have to suspend yours!”
However, it’s more like political leverage. CNN tonight reported, “Republican candidate John McCain said he was suspending his campaign to deal with the nation’s economic crisis. McCain also said he would not attend Friday night’s debate with Democratic rival Barack Obama unless an economic bailout deal is reached by then.
There has been pressure this week from congressional Republicans and Democrats, who are requesting McCain deliver an opinion on the $700 billion bailout of major investment companies to prevent a major collapse in the market (that is, beyond what we’re already observing and experiencing).
Here is how Newsweek’s “Stumper” blog analyzed it:
[F]or the moment, this is almost all upside for McCain, at least politically. He presents himself as a bipartisan leader. He puts Obama on the defensive. He shifts the media narrative onto favorable terrain. And politics aside, there’s the always a chance–which I flicked at yesterday–that rolling up his sleeves and engaging in a little bipartisan action will actually help make the bill better.
President Bush supports the $700 billion proposal and will be addressing the nation later Wednesday night, leaving McCain in a difficult position, where he has to decide whether or not to side with Bush, and how to lead the Republican party, which is unsure how to respond to the bailout.
McCain has vowed to return directly to the Senate to work on the financial crisis. “It’s time for both parties to come together to solve this problem,” he said today. “We must meet as Americans, and until this crisis is solved. I’m directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign…to delay the debates until we address this crisis.” He didn’t say what would happen if the crisis went beyond Election Day. Suspend the elections?
Obama, naturally, responded by saying the debate must go on, and that this is the most important time to address the country about economic policies and the difference between Obama and McCain’s plans.
“This is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who…will be responsible for dealing with this mess. I think it is going to be part of the President’s job to deal with more than one thing at once. There’s no reason why we can’t be constructive, and tell the American people where we want to take the country…and where we want to take the economy, as well as dealing with some issues of foreign policy, which was the initial topic of the debate.”
More on the story as it develops…
Yours & truly,
Rachel Asher & Eric Francis
ya and shift it their way. somebody tonight described it as the longest Hail Mary in the history of football or Mary. Check the NY Times article, it’s a fabulous quote. That these guys are such losers would not bother me so much were there not some very scummy incumbents in control of the government right now — I’ve seen this kind of move where the lame duck incumbents want to pass the torch to their own; somebody else wins; then they try to make a huge scene to hold onto power. It’s very old. I’ve seen it up close several times. we need to be vigilant.
Fascinating. My first thought upon receiving this news in a CNN alert was: “Its the two-minute warning and McCain has called a time out.”
Problem is, that’s what the losing team would do–try to slow down the momentum of the game.