By Jwilkes from Eyes on Obama:
When he finally does take the debate stage, McCain is going to have some serious questions to answer. And on behalf of the press that has been effectively shut off from McCain over the past several weeks, you can bet thedebate moderatorswill go right for the jugular.
Let’s pretend, for a moment, that all of America understands that John McCain’s decision to suspend his campaign in order to address the Wall Street crisis is what it is: a political stunt. The potential payoffs are obvious. Ideally, McCain hopes to back Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama into a corner: if he agrees to suspend his campaign, he gives McCain a free pass to regroup and devise a new strategy to combat his precipitous drop in the polls. Moreover, Obama’s agreement would basically validate McCain’s economic judgment, and give the Arizona Republican the opportunity to play the politics-aside-hero on the financial crisis. On the other hand, if Obama balks, McCain can accuse him of putting his own political aspirations ahead of the country’s economic interests.
Well played, Mr. McCain.
The GOP presidential nominee needed a game changer. A month ago, he was trailing just about as miserably as he is now. Then he made Alaska Governor Sarah Palin his running mate, making every polling machine in the country go haywire. It allowed him to take a convincing (albeit ephemeral) lead in the national polls. But as the mojo from Palin has worn off, the scales seemed to balance out, and in fact tilt back in favor of his Democratic opponent. With just about 40 days left in the election, time was running out, and McCain needed to pull another card out of his sleeve.
The Wall Street crisis presented a two-birds-with-one-stone opportunity. Heading into a debate against a formidable opponent when he’s struggling to maintain support was a risky move for McCain. Pledging to halt all campaign activity makes McCain look magnanimous. It gives him the ability to grab hold of some authority with regard to the economy, and to potentially postpone the debate until a later date, when he might be able to battle Obama as an equal instead of an underdog.
This might be just about as much of a curveball as McCain could have thrown. But for all the cleverness of his trick pitch, Obama knocked it out of the park. "Presidents," he said, "are going to have to handle more than one thing at a time."
Flop. Maybe that wasn’t so well-played after all.
When he finally does take the debate stage, McCain is going to have some serious questions to answer. And on behalf of the press that has been effectively shut off from McCain over the past several weeks, you can bet the debate moderators will go right for the jugular:
"Mr. McCain, many presidential candidates have had to run their campaigns at times of serious national crisis. Lincoln ran for reelection at the height of the Civil War. Roosevelt ran for reelection three times, once as the country was emerging from the Great Depression, another time as it was embroiled in World War II. More recently, George W. Bush ran for reelection in the midst of two foreign wars. Does your decision to suspend your campaign to address the economic crisis suggest that you’re unable to deal with both responsibilities at once?"
If McCain has a satisfactory answer for that one, I’ll be the first to yell "Bravo!" from the back of the auditorium. But let’s be honest: he doesn’t.
That’s why McCain’s move reeks of desperation. And in all likelihood, voters- especially the ones who were anticipating the debate on Friday to hear his take on a plethora of issues- are going to smell it. And what was suppose to be a move to mitigate McCain’s electoral demise may only serve to accelerate it.
Tonight's debate is a perfect opportunity to get your friends who are still on the fence into the race. Have a debate party! I'm going to one and it should be fun. If that's not possible, invite some of your friends to join us in EyesOnObama forums for a presidential debate discussion.
Look forward to "seeing" y'all tonight!
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