Making No Economic Sense: John McCain Suspends Presidential Campaign

Senator John McCain made the announcement Wednesday that he would suspend his campaign after speaking before the Global Initiative session, hosted by former president Bill Clinton in New York Thursday, September 25. His statement called for a bipartisan effort on the part of Congress to develop and enact a plan that would benefit the American people and said that politics must be set aside during times like those being experienced at present. McCain asked that Senator Barack Obama join him in Washington and that everyone work to forestall the economic crisis at hand, including reaching some form of accord on the $700 billion bailout proposed by the Bush administration.

It sounded like a noble and honorable idea at the time. Now, however, McCain has a problem. He may have placed himself in a politically untenable position no matter what he does.

Not that McCain did not already have a problem, especially where the economy was concerned. It is long past the day when anyone thought that Senator McCain would be the go-to president for rectifying a failing economy. Videos on YouTube, sound bites on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," and being constantly quoted for saying that he did not know much about economics have taken their toll on his economic credibility.

So whose idea was it that Senator McCain suspend his campaign and go to Washington to help fix something he knows next to nothing about? Whoever it was should be fired.

Senator Barack Obama issued a statement a few hours after Senator McCain's unprecedented announcement, stating that he would not suspend his campaign and that he was in daily contact with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and legislative leaders who are currently at work trying to produce some type of legislation to help shore up the economy, including the $700 billion bailout legislation proposed by Paulson and the Bush administration. Obama stated that he was certain that if any of those people needed the candidates help, they would ask for it.

Not only was this a veiled dig at McCain's admitted lack of technological prowess (McCain admits to not being adept with a computer), but it also calls into question the decision to stop campaigning for president to offer help where none is needed (there are already hundreds of politicians, analysts, and economic experts working on the situation) and, additionally, might become inhibitory and superfluous at best.

Senator Obama also said that the debate should go on, that the American people needed to hear from the people who were planning to inherit the "mess" that Washington was working on.

Gloria Kellum, vice chancellor of the University of Mississippi said that preparations for the Friday night debate continues and that the university intends to host the debate and expects both candidates to be there. "We have a strong belief that tomorrow night this debate will be right here."

Gloria Kellum told CNN that $5.5 million in private funds had been used to prepare for the debate.

The Commission on Presidential Debates, the organization that is sponsoring the event, issued this statement: "We believe the public will be well served by having all of the debates go forward as scheduled,"

But Senator McCain, if he attends the debate, would look the fool. Having stated that fixing the economy was the most important issue, he stands to lose face by looking less sincere if he participates in the debate. It would also look as if the Obama camp was correct in their assessment of the situation in Washington.

Senator McCain cannot afford to let Senator Obama look correct - at least not so incontrovertibly.

Both candidates are expected to be at a special meeting convened by president Bush at the White House Thursday evening to help facilitate the passage of the bailout legislation.

As of this posting, Senator McCain has confirmed that he will not attend the debate.

And yet, if Senator McCain does not participate in the debate, the Democratic Party can say that he really is out of touch with what is important, that his intentions were politically motivated, that he would inject himself into a situation where his presence is not only unnecessary but unwanted. Because it all goes back to Senator McCain's admitted ineptitude in economics matters.

And the Obama camp and many political analysts and pundits are making much of Senator McCAin's position that the economy was "strong" and "sound" as recent as just a week ago.

Senator McCain, instead of looking like an honorable, patriotic, and helpful senator, could and probably will be painted as a self-promoting, self-serving politician with an over-inflated sense of self-worth. He might also be accused of avoiding Obama to help buy time for his campaign (a recent CNN poll show that Senator Obama has increased his slight lead over Senator McCain by another two points).

Yes, Senator McCain has a problem.

It will be interesting in the next few hours leading up to the debate to see what the McCain campaign will decide to do. Having waffled and flipped on so many issues of late (state of the economy, regulation instead of deregulation, etc.), Senator McCain will most likely do as he said he would - go to Washington.

How this shows leadership and sound decision-making is unknown. It looks more like a spur-of-the-moment decision to gain political leverage that has backfired.

Which brings everything back around to Senator McCain's problem -- leads to a problem of decision.

An advisor or two (or more) needs to be fired.

Sources:

USAToday.com
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