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PANICKING MCCAIN IS NOT READY TO DEBATE.
Breaking news! John McCain wants to postpone the debates to go back to Washington and work on the economic crisis. It's an interesting gambit for McCain, especially after a rough forty-eight hours in which, as Ben Smith notes, nothing has changed except public polling numbers (down for McCain), Joe Biden's blistering foreign policy speech this morning, and the new revelations about McCain campaign manager Rick Davis' work for Fannie Mae. (Davis has canceled his public appearances since the announcement.)
The decision to postpone the campaign is a purely political stunt -- both candidates are going to be doing debate prep in the next few days anyway, not hitting the hustings. McCain has nothing to add to debates about the bailout that he can't offer from the campaign trail, and Obama and McCain had already planned to jointly release a set of principles for the bailout today. It's also been made clear by Senate leadership that no bill will pass without McCain's yea vote, so the only reason to go back to Washington is to engage in some good old-fashioned bipartisan grandstanding.
Keep in mind that McCain's campaign has been, weirdly, raising expectations for him in the debate over the past few weeks -- for instance, here's Deputy RNC Chair Frank Donatelli saying, "Senator McCain is much better at giving answers off the cuff, and Obama has some trouble when he doesn't have his teleprompter." They seem to be regretting that now.
What is Obama's next move? Apparently he's not refraining from campaigning, and he wants the debates to go forward as scheduled. Calling McCain's bluff is the right decision; the president of the United States has to be able to do more than one thing at a time, after all. The McCain campaign is afraid to debate, but if he wants to go to the White House he has to go through the people first.
UPDATE: An e-mail from the Obama campaign points out that their candidate called McCain this morning at 8:30 a.m. to arrange for a joint statement on the economy. They did not mention it to the press. This afternoon, McCain announces his bipartisan leadership. Typical.
--Tim Fernholz
COMMENTS (10)
If McCain can't make the debate, let Sarah Palin do it for him. She is supposed to be able to step in at a moments notice. Lets see if she can do it.
They had an election during World War II, another during the depression. No reason to suspend the campaign now!
Posted by: Richard Bernstein | September 24, 2008 4:05 PM
I think McCain's bipartisan concern for the safety and well-being of our country is not shared by the Democrats. Obama is meeting right now with a team (hundreds) of advisors to determine whether or not he supports supporting a bail-out. Then he is scheduled to meet with another team of advisors to find out why they didn't think of this concerted effort first (a faked phone call), and will put together yet another team of advisors to find a way to spin this to the American public to show that John McCain is lying, afraid of debating (ten Town Hall debates), unable to multi-task and out of touch. The economy is not that important that a little (snarky commentary) debate will get in the way, is it?
Posted by: Casey | September 24, 2008 4:28 PM
I think McCain's bipartisan concern for the safety and well-being of our country is not shared by the Democrats. Obama is meeting right now with a team (hundreds) of advisors to determine whether or not he supports supporting a bail-out. Then he is scheduled to meet with another team of advisors to find out why they didn't think of this concerted effort first (a faked phone call), and will put together yet another team of advisors to find a way to spin this to the American public to show that John McCain is lying, afraid of debating (ten Town Hall debates), unable to multi-task and out of touch. The economy is not that important that a little debate (snarky commentary)will get in the way, is it?
Posted by: Casey | September 24, 2008 4:30 PM
So Katrina wasn't such a big deal?
Posted by: McSame | September 24, 2008 4:57 PM
Congress has put us into this mess, and that means Obama, Biden and McCain. Does it matter whether McCain is trying to act like he is doing something useful or if Obama gives up the pretense that he does anything useful?
Posted by: sangjmoon | September 24, 2008 5:18 PM
sangjmoon -- how exactly did Obama put us into this mess. Yes, McCain and Biden voted to deregulate the banking industry, via legislation written by Phil Gramm, McCain's f --ing economics advisor. Let's cut the false equivalence crap.
Posted by: Passing Shot | September 24, 2008 5:28 PM
Passing Shot has it wrong, McCain tried to increase regulation of Fannie and Freddie which are the cause of this debacle. But I agree that McCain must be shivering in his loafers over a debate on foreign policy with Obama, and that Obama will undoubtedly perform spectacularly, and we should all expect that he does so an makes no glaring errors.
Posted by: Montjoie | September 24, 2008 11:57 PM
"McCain tried to increase regulation of Fannie and Freddie which are the cause of this debacle."
Yes, he tried and failed, to get his bill out of committe in a Republican-controlled Senate.
What a leader that man McCain is.
Posted by: brewmn | September 25, 2008 12:29 AM
"Senator McCain is much better at giving answers off the cuff, and Obama has some trouble when he doesn't have his teleprompter."
I believe the correct phrase is "Lie on the fly". Hahahhahaha
Posted by: JAB | September 25, 2008 6:57 AM
"Senator McCain is much better at giving answers off the cuff, and Obama has some trouble when he doesn't have his teleprompter."
I believe the correct phrase is "Lie on the fly". Hahahhahaha
Posted by: JAB | September 25, 2008 7:19 AM