Better Off Without Ya

With our financial future hanging in the balance, Sen. John McCain suspended his presidential campaign to attend the hearings and debates over the proposed federal bailout of the mortgage industry. He asked Sen. Barack Obama to do the same and reschedule Friday night's presidential debate on foreign policy in order to focus on the solution to the crisis.

Sen. McCain's statement:

It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the Administrations proposal. I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.

Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me.

I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.

We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved. I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday nights debate until we have taken action to address this crisis.

Sounds like someone that puts his country's needs ahead of his personal ambition, don't you think? What did Barack Obama have to say about this?

It is going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once. It's more important than ever to present ourselves to the American people.

You know, what I'm going to do is, I'm going to -- what I have told the leadership in Congress is that, if I can be helpful, then I am prepared to be anywhere any time.

What I think is important, though, is that we don't suddenly infuse Capitol Hill with presidential politics at a time when we're in the middle of some very delicate and difficult negotiations.

So, you know, I think the message is, if you need us, if I can be helpful, I'm prepared to be there at any point.

Judging from the fact that Sen. Obama is still sequestered at his debate camp, I would have to say that Neither Sen. Harry Reid or House Speaker Nancy Pelosi felt that Sen. Obama had anything substantive to add to the debate. Furthermore, Sen. Reid did tell the White House that it must serve up support from Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain if it hoped to ensure bipartisan backing for a massive economic bailout package by week's end.

Of course, Sen. Reid has since recanted his plea and, along with his fellow Democrats, have attempted to paint McCain's presence at the Capitol as political posturing. But even at that, no one on Capital Hill has thought that calling Sen. Obama back to the chambers for the negotiations and debates was necessary.

I personally don't agree with bailing out these institutions for their risk taking. I didn't sign on anywhere to assume their risk. But there is a legitimate crisis and we have elected these politicians to represent us. John McCain is there because he was hired by the people of Arizona to be their Senator. If I lived in Illinois, I'd be thinking about a recall vote right about now since I sent Barack Obama to Washington to represent me and starting 143 days into his first term has been campaigning for another job. That's not what he was elected to do. That's not anywhere in his senatorial campaign promises.

I believe McCain will still show up for the scheduled debate tomorrow night, provided that he has accomplished the job for which he gets paid. And, without the benefit of a week long cram session for the debate, McCain will still be able to crush Obama on foreign policy with both hands tied behind his back because he's forgotten more about foreign policy than Barack Obama will ever know.

If McCain doesn't make it to Ole Miss, it will be because he was engaged in something was far more important than a presidential debate. After all, he was summoned to Washington because he is able to work with both sides of the aisle to attempt to do what is best for the country. The only reason that Barack Obama would be summoned is to be able to vote "PRESENT."

If no deal is reached tomorrow, Obama will be able to vote "Present" at Ole Miss. John McCain will have to call in absent.