Nine days ago, John McCain (as well as the Bush administration), was proclaiming the soundness of the fundamentals of our economy. A few days later, after realizing his political blunder, John McCain, dropped his "sound economy" argument and started blaming the corporate heads of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Obama for the economic mess. Today, John McCain, has suspended his campaign and is headed to Washington to make sure the economy, which was supposedly "sound," gets fixed.
During this time, Obama, has remained relaxed and consistent in his comments about the dire state of the economy. Obama, just today, took it on himself to contact McCain and suggest that they come to an agreement on this issue and draw up a joint statement of solidarity, which McCain agreed to. Just after his contact with Obama, McCain, suddenly announced that he was suspending his campaign and wanted to cancel the presidential debate on Friday night.
Then, just this afternoon, Bush, invited McCain and Obama, as well as other republican and democratic leaders, to meet with him to discuss the economy and his bailout plan. Why didn't Bush invite McCain and Obama, as well as the others, to discuss this economic crisis a week or two weeks ago, when the Palin stupor was still in effect and favorable to McCain's campaign? Could it be that the decline of McCain's campaign numbers influenced Bush to call them in for discussions?This whole McCain/Bush scenario sounds too convenient, politically. Senator, Chris Dodd, who has, along with others, been scrutinizing this bailout (for the last five days) told a reporter, just today, that McCain had no contact with anyone working on this issue until this morning.
Dodd, also told this reporter that Obama had been in touch with many officials, including the treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, over the past week, because he was concerned about the state of the economy. In other words, McCain, who now is supposedly concerned enough to suspend his campaign, had no contact with anyone working on this bailout until today, which just happens to be two days before the first presidential debate. Whereas, Obama has been concerned, over the past week or more, and has contacted those involved to learn as much as possible and be involved in the process.McCain, has many reasons to be concerned about this crisis, but few of them have anything to do with fixing the economy. McCain's brief bubble of popularity, which was primarily due to Sarah Palin, has all but deflated in the last two weeks. Recent polls show McCain's political stock dropping, while Obama's stock is on the rise. The outright lies, inaccessibility and flip-flopping of McCain and Palin have finally been noticed by voters, and this has sent the McCain campaign into survival mode, as well as panic. Thus, we have McCain, who, just nine days ago, thought the economy was sound, supposedly risking his candidacy to go to Washington and "rescue" (not "bailout") the economy and people of the United States. If this isn't a "grand stand" maneuver, then I've never seen one!
As I've said before, I am not an Obama or McCain supporter! I have to admit, however, that Obama, at least for the last month or so, has looked and responded like he could be an effective president, while John McCain has looked and responded like George Bush or even worse (if that's possible?). We, perhaps, are on the brink of another world-wide depression, and it seems that John McCain, as is common to his party, is only capable of being manipulative and playing political games.
I hope that middle-class Americans can put aside their party loyalties long enough to sense the difference between political posturing/maneuvering and true political action. If not, then it might just take a depression to wake them up!