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The American Imperative: McCain's Suspension and the Democractic Process
As many of you, I was shocked today by the announcement from the McCain campaign of the suspension of his campaign so he can deal with the economic crisis.
What surprised me was in two major parts. I'll address this to Senator McCain, who I have long respected as an American war hero.
Part one. Senator, with all due respect for your heroic actions in Vietnam and your position in the Senate, you are not the President of the United States. We already have one of those. He is going to speak tonight. This is not 9/11 for you; it is another crisis that the current administration has to deal with. Perhaps you will be sitting in the Oval Office in January. I do not know. While I have my own preference in the current campaign, and it isn't you, if you win in November, you will have the Big Job.
You don't have it now, so it isn't "your" crisis to deal with. You have at least 98 other Senators, minus yourself and Senator Obama, who can work in the Senate to create a solution to the current crisis. That is what we, the American people, elected them to do. So, Senator, please calm down and get back on the campaign trail. This is what you wanted to do, so please, go back out there, man-up, and run for the presidency. That is what we expect you to do.
Secondly, as my friend Eric Rauchway wrote today this is not 1864. You are not President Abraham Lincoln looking at the realistic possibility that he would be the last elected president of a fully United States, with nearly 400,000 of his fellow Americans lying dead on the field of battle. You do not have to deal with the specter of a global war of a scope that is nearly unimaginable, as did President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1940 and again in 1944. Why? As I noted above, you are not the president of the United States. It isn't your job.
No, it is the job of someone whose policies you supported for the last eight years. It was your job, to deal with the economic crisis a long time ago. You could have done something about the deregulation that you instead supported with your friend and colleague, Senator Gramm. No, you had your chance to do the job that the fine citizens of Arizona hired you to do. And you didn't do it. So now, the Bush administration and your friends in the Senate get to deal with the crisis.
Your job is to get out there and tell the American people how you would fix it if you were President. You have the chance to do it on Friday.
Man Up Senator. Don't take your ball and go to one of your homes like Achilles sitting in his tent. Don't hide behind the flag, as that just lessens the importance of those colors that you, I, and so many others have fought to defend.
Tell us Senator. Convince us of your great plan to solve the financial crisis that you helped to create.
Unless you don't have a plan. Or are just afraid that your opponent does.
Time to Man Up. The health of this Republic demands it. Our democratic system demands it. Our ancestors who went to the polls in 1864, 1940 and 1944 demand it.
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I believe that McCain's arch-right wing supporters ordered him to Washington to scuttle the developing accord. To them, this gov't bailout of the financial industry is like a October Revolution all over again--a socialist coup d'etat. They sent McCain to act as a splitter. He's just earning his keep, after all.
Plus, this financial crisis is largely McCain's fault. Since there is no good solution in sight, he can now wait for the current plan to fail, then blather about how he opposed it. That'll provide cover for his decades of complicity in the whole affair.
That said, this is a nice article. Effective rhetorical device of addressing McCain directly. Thank you!
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Fabulous article Robert! McCain has forgotten that it is NOT HIS JOB to "fix" the economic crisis, and that there plenty of Senators dealing with this. Honestly, McCain bailing out of the campaign, and possibly the debate, clearly demonstrates to all people how little prepared he is to handle the presidency. He is being very, very presumptuous in expecting that Washington will not be able to resolve this without his direct involvement.
"This is not 9/11 for you; it is another crisis that the current administration has to deal with."
Anything the Admin proposes must get through Congress- and Harry Reid asked McCain to do this- while Obama is still on the campaign trail.
Thus, McCain furthers his "bi-partisan" credibility, while illustrating that Obama is an "empty suit" completely unneeded in the Senate.
Push harder!
Everything I've read indicates that Harry Reid specifically said thanks but no thanks to McCain, so where do you get this piece of nonsense? Especially in view of the fact that McCain hasn't voted on ANYTHING since April 08. Kinda damages his credibility doesn't it?
Considering that he went to see Lynn de Rothschild, Katie Couric, and Bill Clinton, instead of getting any actual work done in the Senate on this bill, I fail to see how this boosts his credibility. Especially since (1) It's the Republicans in the Senate that are holding up this bill; (2) Pretty much the entire Senate has asked him, in no uncertain terms, to butt out; (3) He pulled out of debate with George Dubya the last time he ran for the exact same jon (I see a pattern here); (4) He pulled something similar with John Cornyn (R-TX) on the Immigration Bill (although that included some swearing and screaming on the Senate floor that he seems to have omitted this time around). IIRC, Cornyn's response was to accuse him of being a seagull - you know, flies in, makes lots of noise, poops all over everything and flies out again without actually contributing anything other than a wagonload of poop and noise.
The plan seems to be that McCain and other Republicans claim there is an impasse. McCain flies out to Washington and like Superman saves the day.
"Oh thank you John we couldn't have done it without you."
"My Hero."
The idea is to create the impression he has economic "experience" and leadership qualities.
This is pure political theater based on his downward trending poll numbers. The question is whether the American voters are gullible enough to fall for it.
Since he can't win on his skills theater is all he has left.
As if the man who "doesn't understand economics as well as he should" (his own words) had anything at all to contribute to a discussion of financial markets.
This is now the second time McCain has "suspended" his campaign (as if it ever really pauses). I seem to remember the Important Man getting a few photo ops at a hurricane recently too. His sleeves were actually! rolled! up!
The best explanation I've heard for McCain canceling the debate: to save money. If he can convince Obama to stop running ads, the financing gap between their campaigns is narrowed.
Other possible explanations:
- Yikes! Panic attack! He hasn't done his homework! He's going to get creamed!
- Criminey! His VP is an ignoramus! She's going to get demolished too!
- Holy Smokes! He hasn't voted on any bill since April! Gotta get busy before anyone notices!
- Simple showboating. There aren't any hurricanes this week.
Unfortunately for McC, he'd get more publicity almost anywhere but DC. He'll have to wrestle for the mike there.
McCain is becoming a worse joke than Bush. Have any other presidential candidates ever asked for a debate postponement? Have any non-incumbents ever asked? Does McCain expect this problem to go away between now and the election? What "work" is he going to do to "clear his decks" in the next month or so for the debate to proceed at his time of choosing?
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