But I don’t understand what McCain expects he can do? There are people working on this right now. People that have been working on it and no the issues far better than McCain and Obama do. Let them do their jobs, if needed the candidates can join the activites. But nobody was clamoring for them to come add their brainpower to Washington on this matter.
What power do they have? They will vote on the bill that reaches the Senate. They’re not on the committees actually doing work on the bill. Obama just made it clear that he intends to work diligently daily with those who are actually in charge of doing the work. Again, let’s not throw two Senators with admittedly little economic background into the mix to muddy things up.
You’re right – they’re faces. Figureheads. There’s very little that they can do that they can’t do right now, on the campaign trail, taking 90 minutes out for a very much needed debate. Going back to Washington as faces would be little more than politicizing.
:dubious: No, it is not reasonable, when each of them is also engaged in the even more important job of running for president. There are, after all, 100 senators, they will reach some decision on the financial crisis one way or another, and I’m sure Obama and McCain need not be there to make up a quorum.
McCain is supposedly suspending all of his campaign ads, too. Why is that necessary?
Because he is a MAVERICK!
Here’s my just-saw-the-CNN crawl, not reading the rest of the thread reaction. Whatever people think of my politics I think I’m pretty moderate in temperament about most of this stuff.
What a craven, gutless, hopeless move. There’s absolutely no reason to do this except the poll numbers. Lehman and Merrill and AIG had their Waterloos last Sunday and Monday, Paulson and Bernanke started testifying Monday morning. There is zero justification for this except as a stunt. Obama has McCain at the end of his sword, figuratively, and McCain is asking Obama to drop it. If Obama suspends his campaign he’s not nearly as smart as I thought he was. Picking Palin as VP was a desperate move of the “so crazy it’s brilliant” type - and it worked, at least for a while, which is all you can ask - this is “so crazy it’s nuts.”
If I’m in Obama’s camp, I draft a statement like the following, hopefully a little snappier:
“The crisis in the financial sector is very serious and is hurting millions of Americans. It is a crisis that requires leadership and judgment. John McCain has said he has the experience and leadership to handle difficult times, but he is not displaying that experience now. He does not have a plan to deal with the problems our economy is facing, which has been caused in large part by the policies George W. Bush and the Republicans enacted in the last eight years, and which John McCain has supported while campaigning for President. I will not be suspending my campaign. I have been watching the hearings in Washington and the situation on Wall Street closely and will continue to do so, but now is not the time to call a time-out. This is a time to step up and lead, and I will continue to tell America about the economic changes we need to make to respond to this situation and to prevent similar ones in the future. Thank you, and God Bless America.”
I disagree 100% if Obama wants his whatever point plan inserted in the bill and McCain wants whatever his plan is in the plan. They go there and actually show they can work with both parties, or just there own. This is a real life crisis one that they can blow off or one they can actually debate for a real reason, not for talking points.
**I think John McCain is trying to anoint himself President or declare himself President by acclamation.
He’s a ducking and a-weaving.
He doesn’t want to debate Obama, and this proves it for sure.**
So just what exactly is John McCain going to be doing? The Democratic and Republican leadership are sitting there talking about this stuff now. Are they just going to give him a seat on the committee? Are they going to make a new group just for his benefit?
What exactly can he do?
There are already representatives from both sides working to come to an agreement on what goes in the bill. Each side is heavily represented, if you haven’t noticed. Obama and McCain wouldn’t be able to offer much help at all, really. There are many others who have the knowledge, background, and experience to deal with this – and they are. Too many cooks in the kitchen is never a good thing, especially when some of those cooks are actually busboys.
I’m changing my mind and agreeing that Obama is better off calling McCain’s bluff with the leadership and multitasking angle of “country first” than agreeing to quasi-campaign suspension, at the risk McCain comes out looking more like a “country first” kinda guy.
Oh my, so both these people are qualified to be President but not qualified to lead there respective parties to a conclusion on this bailout? Good thing I despise both loser politicians in the running.
It’s not their job right now to lead their respective parties to a conclusion on this bailout. Their parties already have very well educated and informed leadership working in committees. Their jobs are to be U.S. Senators and to campaign for office.
Obama’s response was perfect. There can no longer be any debate over the depravity of McCain’s character.
Chris Matthews says, through his spittle and slobber, the word is the debate is full speed ahead. McCain didn’t say he wouldn’t debate, just advised to postpone the debate.
They might be qualified, they are not positioned. These things are hammered out by committees before they go to a floor debate or vote. Obama is on the Foreign Relations, Veterans’ Affairs, and Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committees, and the European Affairs subcommittee. McCain is on the Armed Services, Commerce, Science and Transportation, and Indian Affairs committees. None of these would be dealing with the bailout legislation.
Yeah and a great way to keep McCain/Obama’s name off something someone may not like. What bullshit, politics as usual, change we will never see.
If Obama stood up to the Democrats on the committee and said “This is the plan that will help the American people accept no less” it would be in the deal, or no deal would be reached.
ETA: FTR I hate the bailout, it’s stupid and will not stop the downward spiral our economy is in. But as the contenders for the top spot of the USA, they should be there because this has wide ramifications far beyond this election cycle.
It took ten years to raise the federal minimum wage from $5.15 per hour to $5.85 per hour. Ten years. If 250 millions Americans were making minimum wage for forty hours per week the annual cost of that increase is seven billion dollars. Of course, they’re not, the actual cost is much less than that.
Ten years to decide whether the fry guy at McDonalds is worth an extra $28.00 a week, yet we’re supposed to inject one hundred times that into the economy on the basis of one week’s discussion? And the guy who last week didn’t believe the economy was going critical is irreplaceable to the discussion? Why, because of his vast insight into the problem? You’d have to be demented to think that was true.
If Obama can do that this week, he can do it next week. No way is anything gonna get settled this week anyway. The Bush Admin just got a little too greedy with its demands.