First off, how about a big hand for me? I submit my first piece to the Huffington Post yesterday morning discussing the need for Barack Obama and John McCain to work together to solve the Wall Street Crisis and postpone tomorrow's debate. Four hours after it's posted, McCain breathlessly runs in front of the press with a similar type of idea and I start receiving emails saying I'm a plant for Karl Rove. Perfect. Somebody noted that, I was the only person that apparently knew about this plan and, therefore, I had to be in on it. The truth is, there wasn't much to read in my daily sports section, I was bored and pounded out five hundred words. I'd also note I drive around with an Obama sticker on my car and donate money to his campaign whenever I can afford to do so.
I think it's imperative that people realize that what McCain did was exactly what I believed should not have been done. By claiming the idea as his own, calling on Obama to join him and making himself look holier than thou, he immediately looked like a panderer. He's looked like a panderer since the day he chose Sarah Palin as his running mate and this, in many people's eyes, simply reinforced the notion.
Had he and Obama come out together, spoke about their desire to oversee their respective party's plans, it could have been a useful tool towards correcting the nightmare on Wall Street. Without question, the details of the plans need to be handled by the congressional leadership that has been knee-deep in this issue. However, by appearing together as a unified front, they could have given the nation a sense of calm and pride.
It's amazing that a mere four years ago; McCain seemed like a viable alternative for John Kerry's ticket. That McCain is somebody that liberals would have had a hard time dealing with but that probably would have got Kerry elected and, ultimately, improved our country. Instead, he ran to the right and has truly become a shell of himself. With a mere forty days left in this campaign, this election is starting to feel an awful lot like 1992 where an out of touch candidate tied to bad economic policy simply couldn't beat the change-agent Bill Clinton. In fact, if Obama looked like Bobby Kennedy instead of just speaking and thinking like him, McCain would be busy tweaking his concession speech.
For those of us that have watched McCain's career over the years, it'll be interesting to see how he handles the remaining weeks of this campaign. Will he bust out nonstop Jeremiah Wright footage? The guess here is that, the second Wright appears in a McCain commercial, Obama will unload Keating Five spots until McCain retreats. Will he try and ramp up the "culture war" argument and try and slime his way into office? That'd be my guess. However, what I think he should consider doing is to do the right thing. In 1996, a war hero who was similarly overmatched, Bob Dole was defeated but, for the most part, did so with his integrity intact. What McCain pulled yesterday was exactly what the country did not need. He grandstanded, he subliminally questioned Obama's patriotism and he showed once again that he, not Obama, would rather win an election than win a (Wall Street) war.
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