From the PR side of this announcement, it kinda looks like McCain is slow to move and scared to debate Obama. And yet he's set the perfect PR trap for Obama. If the Senator from Illinois refuses to suspend his campaign, it will be spun as though he doesn't care about the middle class Americans he's targeted with his ads and speeches. On that front, well done by the McCain camp.
I've been wondering since last week if and how the candidates would make themselves relevent to the economic conversation. And with this line in an email just sent by the McCain camp he took at bold step in that direction:
I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.
Will it right Wall Street? Probably not. But McCain has certainly taken the leadership role here. Can't wait to see how Obama responds...
5 comments:
So does your response here mean that you like the politics as a game approach? I like the governance approach, which is what I see Obama doing. I'm an independent too, but not undecided.
I agree that the campaign suspension was a cagey maneuver. It sort of forces the media narrative to something which is driven by McCain's actions. But it is it sound leadership? It seems like McCain's return to Washington derailed a bipartisan move toward resolving this crisis. Let's hope the markets are stable tomorrow morning.
Part of Obama's response to the idea of suspension: "Presidents are going to have to deal with more than one thing at a time. It's not necessary for us to think that we can only do one thing and suspend everything else."
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122230374700773663.html?mod=rss_opinion_main
Obama's response sounds more like that of a leader. No need to announce a suspension. Just make changes to your schedule and take care of business. McCain's comments were hasty and conditional. Paraphrasing here: "IF a decision is not made by Friday, THEN no debate...we are running out of time."
I seriously doubt McCain misses the debate on Friday. If he does, I doubt he will be able to recover.
I wouldn't call it a leadership role, especially after reading about how he led Washington once he got there (widely reported he didn't offer much input).
I'm pretty confident this was a stunt designed to take two things out of the headlines (which it did):
1) The horrific Palin/Couric interview.
2) That his campaign manager was cashing checks from Freddie Mac until last month for the service of "advising John McCain."
In related news, he might be trying to get the debate postponed so that the VP debate is postponed. If you get trainwrecked by Katie Couric, you've got a really, really big problem.
I'm sorry but you're not undecided. I could tell who you were voting for from your first 2 posts.
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