McCain succeeded in focusing attention on himself, but not necessarily in a good way. Voters may see this not as an illustration of brave leadership but as another example of McCain's "ready, fire, aim" approach to dealing with any crisis. Putting himself at the center of events -- making any situation all about him -- is more than a political tactic for McCain. It's his nature, and I wonder if most Americans won't be unnerved at the prospect of electing a president who's always so ready for his close-up.
ready, fire, aim istoo generous. I am borrowing from Eugene Robinson's Washington Post column today Above is final paragraph, and I use his title for mine. I agree tMcCain fires before he aims. Putting "ready" first implies a level of planning that I don't see. McCain simply fires then announces he's ready as he points the gun in a new direction. The "Sunset Boulevard" reference is more appropriate and even scarier: if he is always so ready for his close-up I have to wonder who is the narrator, now floating face down in the swimming pool.
Robinson as always provides not only pungent language (yes, I intended to use pungent, and I know what it means). He maintains his uncanny ability to bring important and sometimes confusing images into sharp focus. We see that from his short introductory paragraph:
John McCain is rapidly making his temperament an inescapable issue in the presidential campaign. Does the nation really want so much drama in the White House?
Whether or not one agrees with the direction the bailout seemed headed (and I do not, at least not until someone can give a clear explanation of how this will fix the real problem of liquidity of banks, which this does not seem to accomplish), one should acknowledge, as Robinson reminds us, that before McCain interjected himself into the picture substantial bipartisan progress was being made towards a proposal that if passed the president would sign. Robinson probably wrote this column during mid-evening last night, when the following paragraph had not yet been made totally irrelevant by the actions of the House Republicans:
Thus far, an objective observer would have to say that Congress has behaved well in the days since Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson delivered a three-page ransom note that said, and I paraphrase, "Give me $700 billion, or I'd hate to see anything bad happen to that nice economy of yours."
I do love his characterization of Paulson's original proposal.
And let's remember, that before McCain injected himself, those participating in negotiations had thought that even some House Republicns were willing to go along with the general principles being discussed.
Robinson is on point when he reminds us that McCain faced the real danger of Obama continuing to widen his lead as today's scheduled first debate approached. Given that reality, two paragraphs at the center of Robinson's column make clear what McCain's intent was:
Changing the subject, which the McCain people have raised to an art form, wasn't an option this time -- the public is hardly in the mood for another Paris Hilton ad -- so the campaign had to try to somehow get out in front of the crisis. Given McCain's initial assessment that the fundamentals of the economy are strong, that wasn't going to be easy.
The solution was to try to make it look as if McCain were leading the heroic effort to save the American way of life. To do this, he had to portray the negotiations over a rescue plan -- which had been making orderly progress -- as stalled and in shambles. "We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved," McCain said, calling on everyone to "temporarily set politics aside."
Of course, McCain's words and actions served to repoliticize the process. And whether or not he got the photo op he wanted, with himself at the table, and the excuse to appear on all the network news evening broadcasts, he did facilitate the breakdown of the process. When we now hear members of the House Republican leadership complain that the process was heading to a conclusion without McCain's participation, we begin to understand a large part of his panic - yes, I did say panic. He wants to present himself as the only one who can solve a crisis, yet a resolution was being reached without his input. Hence his only solution was to ensure that there be NO resolution unless he were a major player and could claim credit.
We should remember. McCain at first did not even think there was a crisis. We should also remember that even several days after the Paulson proposal was out there McCain is on record that he had not read its less than three pages of text. His concern for being involved only came about as a conclusion seemed imminent. And given that he only made his decision AFTER he had begun preparation and practice for the debate scheduled for tonight, one has to wonder it in his practice he was asked a question about the crisis, realized he could not avoid such questions even in a debate about foreign policy - this is an aspect of national security and how we relatede with other nations, especially given the amount of foreing capital that has been propping up our economy - that he decided to take the gamble of ditching the debate. And it is absolutely clear that he intended to ditch the debate, and could not allow any proposal he had not helped shape be moved forward. After all, if there were substantial progress even after he had persuaded Bush to call this meeting to give him an excuse for helicoptering in, he could not hide behind the imagery of addressing the critical issue of the nation as an excuse not to debate.
Drama King seems such an appropriate label. Had one any doubt, all one needed to do is to see the image of McCain, having lied to Letterman about why he was cancelling on Wednesday, suddenly being shown live, sitting across from Couric, having his face powdered. Any sensible person knows one needs makeup before appearing under the bright lights of television. Knowing it is far different than seeing it, and the context of an aging white-haired man having his face powdered by a woman seems such an appropriate image to place this all in context: McCain is all about appearances, and not about reality.
At the end of my intro above the fold, I wrote that if McCain "is always so ready for his close-up I have to wonder who is the narrator, now floating face down in the swimming pool." We will be part of those playing the role filled in the movie by William Holden if we cannot use what has happened to persuade the American people of what by now should be obvious. John McCain is not temperamentally suited for any position of power, much less the awesome responsibility of presiding over the American goliath. He likes to showboat. We can only hope that this most recent stunt will come to be seen for what it is - yet another crash by a pilot who should have been grounded no later than his second crash. This time he would not merely cut the power to a large chunk of Spain. This time he would crash much of the world's economy as a result of his arrogance, his need for attention, his unwillingness to take the time to understand that the fundamentals of our economy were far from strong.
He is certainly a drama king. But the only thing he is seeking to rescue is his rapidly fading political fortunes. And yes, perhaps Norma Desmond IS the appropriate metaphor for John McCain, so let me conclude with that:
Peace.