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WSJ Questions McCain on ‘Leadership’
You know the outlook is in question when the rapaciously conservative Wall Street Journal editorial page is taking John McCain to task for his cancel-the-debate stunt. Granted, they jump through some hoops to somehow make this about both McCain and Obama in the editorial The Candidates Vote 'Present' (they are, after all, the same ol' wingnuts), but it's pretty clear to see how upset they are by this McCain camp gambit:
Last we checked, the President of the United States was still George W. Bush, the Secretary of the Treasury was still Henry Paulson, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve was still Ben Bernanke, and Congress still had 533 members not running for President who are at least nominally competent to debate and pass legislation.
So count us as mystified by Senator John McCain's decision yesterday to suspend his campaign and call for a postponement in Friday's first Presidential debate so that he and Barack Obama can work out a consensus bill to stabilize the financial system. This is supposed to be evidence of leadership?
They even toss Obama a compliment on his handling of the McCain campaign's latest Hail Mary:
Mr. Obama was right on the merits, and politically shrewd, to respond to Mr. McCain's suggestion to postpone Friday's debate by saying that "Presidents are going to have to deal with more than one thing at a time. It's not necessary for us to think that we can only do one thing and suspend everything else." He added that he planned to be at the debate.
posted by itodd on 09/25/08 at 08:05 AM. [printer-friendly version]
COMMENTS
Meanwhile, cooler heads at the Rocky Mountain News can put it more plainly in Don't Delay the Debate with this money quote:
If Winston Churchill could leave London in December 1941 and travel to America to address a joint session of Congress even as British troops in the Far East were reeling under Japanese attacks, somehow we think John McCain can make his way down to Oxford, Miss., for a debate Friday evening without imperiling the future of America.
Their recommendation -- which I wouldn't be surprised to hear the Obama campaign offer today -- would be to switch the topic of Friday's debate to the economy. I think that would be a very interesting move by Obama to counter this McCain announcement and to -- just maybe -- play chess while McCain is playing checkers.
posted by itodd on 09/25/08 at 08:13 AM
Hey, that's been my recommendation since the minute McCain threw this bum pass yesterday! ;-)
Of course, it is an obvious one, and a good one. Also one I doubt McCain would like to happen, considering that it's the economy (and his team of adviser/lobbyists) that is making his poll numbers tank.
I wonder if he put himself between a rock and a hard place.
posted by ladd on 09/25/08 at 08:48 AM
He may be helping Oxford go blue. I wonder if he realizes how few population centers there are in Mississippi. The big one is already solidly Obama. And those kids at Ole Miss have families around this state.
posted by ladd on 09/25/08 at 08:52 AM
I can't imagine anyone but the partisan kool aid drinkers thinking his hiding from the debate is a good thing. But there is nothing he could do they would think isn't brilliant. I've lost a lot of respect for him.
posted by WMartin on 09/25/08 at 10:23 AM
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