If they were the only ones who could do something about this, I wouldn’t think it’s a scam either. But they’re 2 out of 100 Senators. What exactly is it they can do the other Senators can’t? It’s a PR ploy, if a damned clever one.
This is why Obama supporters are accused of being arrogant, condescending and rude.
I just cannot comprehend the belief that someone who has largely ignored his post for months can leap in two days before a debate claiming country loyalty and be believed.
I mean, really. REALLY?! Why today? Why not last week? Why not during Hurricaine Ike?
Are you unaware of the fact that things are going south fairly rapidly now? That this situation isn’t stable but seems to be getting worse? ‘since this story first broke’ it’s been bad…but IMHO we are rapidly approaching the critical point where the government is going to actually have to DO something…or not. And right now the fighting over what to do is heating up.
Seriously folks…it’s time for a reality check here. BOTH of these idiots are, you know, Senators…and we are in a crisis. Don’t you think it’s reasonable to expect them to actually DO THEIR FUCKING JOBS??
AFAIK Mr. (Senator) Obama ALSO campaigned this week. He selfish too? IMHO the answer is yes…they SHOULD be back in Washington helping to figure out what to do next.
-XT
I’m sure it couldn’t have anything to do with him slipping in the polls.
Heck, you and I should get over to Capitol Hill too! After all, this is just that darn important that it’s bigger than both our jobs.
It’s a nifty little piece of political theater: it’s bullshit, but it could play well. Obama needs to respond carefully.
If it isn’t that, it’ll be “I initiated the suspension because I cared about the economy first.” That old fuck can suck on it.
Seriously? You don’t know that things are worse today than last week? That the situation is getting worse and that the political infighting on what to do is heating up? That the proposed ‘solution’ by the treasury is not being bought by the house or senate…but that they don’t seem to know what to do either? That the very undecided nature of what the government may or may not do is causing the entire system to be completely unstable??
Where have you been?
-XT
Yeah, it was a pretty savy move. About the only way Obama could trump it is to announce that he plans to pay for the whole bailout with his campaign funds. :eek:
Ok, so maybe he doesn’t have quite that much money…
Although he’d run the risk of looking like he’s following the lead of his opponent, it could be a canny move for Obama to suspend. Let’s say he does and goes back to Washington to work on the bill. Not only can Obama use his significant influence as the Democratic nominee to address the concerns that the public has with the bill (start with [del]Order 66[/del] Section 8) and come off as the populist hero instead of McCain, but he can also counter-suggest keeping the debate on schedule out of respect for the American public’s (very real) need to know more about the policies of the two candidates.
Let McCain be the one to decline that. After basing his ‘kitchen sink plus’ campaign strategery on Obama not coming to weekly town hall meetings with him, it’d look awfully hypocritical to skip out on a scheduled Presidential debate.
What? Seriously? We’ve got an election in just over a month from now, and you think it’s a good idea for the candidates to stop what they’re doing to work on the economy? What do you expect them to be able to DO?
Again, what do you expect them to do that they can’t do while running for the office?
This is pure political manuevering- if Obama says “Okay”, then he’ll be risking a stall on his rising ratings. If he says “No thank”, then McCain gets to paint Obama as the candidate that doesn’t care about the economy.
And you *respect *him for this blatantly transparent trick?
Obama and Biden aren’t the ones calling for a “time out” right before the debates.
In my opinion, McCain’s campaign noticed the perfect storm of crap that McCain got dumped with this past week, and wants some time off so that the public has a chance to forget some of it before the debate hits.
I didn’t know you were a Senator. I assure you, I’m not…nor am I in any other position of power to respond to the crisis. Since you apparently are, get off your ass and get to Washington, to be sure.
-XT
Apparently, it’s the Obama faithful and John McCain. He’s suspending his campaign just long enough to avoid the debate, and nothing else. That sounds to me like he’s just choosing to skip the debate, and there’s a reason for that.
And yes, the economy is serious business, but then, so is deciding who’s going to be the next President. If McCain doesn’t think that he’s capable of handling both, then he shouldn’t be running in the first place. If he’d rather lose an election, etc., then let him.
Yes. I think the only way for Obama to appropriately respond to this is to make sure the debate goes ahead as planned, regardless of whatever else he does. McCain’s backing out and needs to be held to it, even if there’s a rescheduling.
Pure Republican horseshit.
They can’t win by normal means, so they fake up a crisis into monstrous proportions in hopes that they can sucker us into falling in line behind “the team.”
Has McCain fired Rick Davis yet?
I thought not.
This is the perfect opportunity for Obama to send Biden to “work on the economy”… and suggest McCain do the same with Palin.
Because when the Pres is busy, the VP has to fill in. That’s the job.
And the Pres candidates are busy on that day, with a debate. So…
And what exactly is that job? Is either of them planning on introducing legislation that effects the current crisis? No? Just proxy voting would be sufficent in both cases, this is just grandstanding.
McCain has been in office how many years and JUST NOW he’s getting around to leading on the Economy? That’s rich.
If McCain uses this to make political hay, the proper response is a commercial that shows, with dates, the evolution in a week and a half from “The economy is fundamentally strong” to “Gee, I’m out of breath here, can you gimme a pass on the debate this Friday so that I can show what a great leader I am?”
What really worries me is that politics will screw up a situation in which we’re already screwed…
Far as I’m concerned, when they accepted their party nominations, their jobs became Presidential Candidate. One of them’s going to be the Executive Chief, and it’s more important that they get their messages out on how they’ll deal with this situation as President than as Senator.
The financial crisis is indeed serious and that is why you have serious people like Paulson and Bernanke dealing with it. You need other people like Dodd in the mix to provide Congressional oversight.
Where does McCain fit into it? He doesn’t have any serious expertise on the issue. Nor for matter does Obama though I bet he is a much quicker student of policy issues than McCain. The financial crisis needs policy makers who know the issue inside out and who can devote huge amounts time to it for a period of months. Having McCain camping in Washington for a few days pretending to be heavily involved doesn’t help anyone much.So as far as the substance goes I don’t think much of this annoucement.
What about the politics? It may give him a few points for a couple of weeks but then it will fade away just like the Palin bounce did. However there is a serious possibility that it will make him look completely desperate:lurching from one stunt to another. The Palin pick has already introduced that narrative and this may take it further. Let’s see how the Obama campaign responds.