John McCain has tried to convince Americans that his sense of stability and leadership is the only choice for Americans. Instead, John McCain has shown so little stability that he makes a Slinky seem sturdy.
One week ago, John McCain claimed (again) that the fundamentals of the economy are strong. Just one week later, he now says the economy is in such dire straights that he's suspending his campaign.
Mere days ago, after claiming for months how inexperienced Barack Obama was, John McCain tried to claim that Sen. Obama was so experienced that the economic crisis was somehow his fault. And then mere days after that, on Bad Wednesday, he offered that Mr. Obama should join him in resolving the crisis he'd supposedly caused.
Wednesday was, indeed, a bad day for John McCain. While trying to show his great stability and leadership qualities, he told the American public that he was unable to chew gum and walk at the same time. That he was unable to have his scheduled debate with Barack Obama because he'd be having meetings in Washington.
Sen. Obama figured out how to handle both.
Wednesday was simply a bad day all around for John McCain.
It's not just that First Lady Laura Bush said John McCain's vice presidential choice to put America First lacks sufficient foreign policy experience. But Wednesday was also Sarah Palin's interview with Katie Couric, in which she was unable to give a single example of John McCain fighting for economic regulation in 26 years, prior to two years ago. But worse, this doesn't even touch the ghastly video that surfaced Wednesday of Ms. Palin getting hands laid on her in her church to ward off witchcraft.
Honest to goodness. Witchcraft.
It was a very bad day for John McCain on Wednesday. Polls showed that the top issue for Americans by far is the economy - and that they trust Barack Obama to handle it better than Sen. McCain by 14 points. Only a week earlier, the polls had John. McCain up by two points overall, but now have him down by up to nine points.
And on this same Very Bad Wednesday, as these polls were released with plummeting numbers, John McCain called for a postponement of Friday's debate. What fortuitous timing. Oh, sure, it could have been a coincidence. And maybe the fundamentals of our economy actually are strong.
Wednesday kept being a bad day for John McCain. It's not that he cancelled his CBS appearance with David Letterman, claiming that he had to return to Washington. It's not even that Letterman joked on air McCain was still in New York, taping an interview at CBS. It's that John McCain was replaced on the show by his worst nightmare, Keith Olbermann. That's how bad a day it was for John McCain.
Wednesday was the culmination of bad days for John McCain. His one qualification above all was supposed to be his leadership stability. Instead, we see him and his campaign out of control. In the midst of an economic crisis, we see how he acts - he impulsively calls for a commission, which even Republicans derided. He angrily shouts that if he were president he would fire the head of the SEC, Christopher Cox - not only a man much admired, but a job the president is not legally allowed to fire. He opposes a bailout of AIG. And then supports it. And he then asks to postpone his upcoming debate. This is how John McCain acted in a crisis. Confused. Irresponsible. Flailing.
John McCain's lobbyist campaign manager, Rick Davis, has tried to claim that this election isn't about issues, but personality. Well, reality has a funny way of rearing its head, and issues leaped into the forefront for Americans. Yet Rick Davis should be thrilled for that, even with John McCain avoiding issues - because if the campaign became, in fact, about personality, John McCain has been showing himself to be wildly erratic.
John McCain likes to contend that he's a stable leader you can trust, and to show it has made two Bold Moves to shake up his campaign. One Bold Move was choosing Sarah Palin to be his running mate. The other Bold Move was to suspend his campaign.
If these Bold Moves are John McCain at his best, if this past week has been John McCain in a crisis, if Wednesday was John McCain trying to staunch the bleeding, then the McCain Campaign yesterday spun off the cliff. If John McCain wants the American public to see him as a leader based on his Navy experience, the Navy commander he is unfortunately reminding everyone of now is Captain Queeg.
At least when Captain Queeg lost his bearings and went maniacally searching for missing strawberries, it was fictional. John McCain has to wake up tomorrow and discover that he really did choose Sarah Palin. And that the safety line he cut was his own.