Its all political posturing. On both sides.
Obama wants the debate to go on because McCain has up til very recently been saying the fundamentals of the economy are strong, and this is his chance
to whip him around a little in public while the public is in a frenzy over said economy.
McCain wanted the chance to fly to Washington and make it look like his very presence there, and his inherent leadership qualities were enough to make
the deal go through and save our entire nation. Sometime shortly after he got to Washington, however, it became abundantly clear that the American
people really dont want a bailout at all. Now the Republicans are taking a different approach, a more responsive one to the mood on the street.
In fact, the Republicans have been trying to give McCain credit for.....something...slowing down the passage of the bailout plan is the only thing I
can see at this point. They seem to me to be trying to use the fact that there is a Democratic majority to force the Democrats to pass a plan
without them so that they are not left holding the bag for the ire from the public that is sure to follow.
The only wise thing the Democrats can do, (politically) is to refuse to move forward without agreement from the Republicans so that both parties take
the blame for whatever response the public has to the bailout. Of course, this long delay makes the "dire necessity" of a bailout much more
questionable every day that goes by. If the response is so desperately needed, one would not expect Wall Street to be able to wait weeks and weeks for
the bailout, and if they CAN wait that long, then it isnt as dire as they are making it out to be. Certainly not dire enough to justify the extreme
language in the original draft about no oversight and review by court or other agency.
How anyone can give McCain credit for being any sort of orchestrator of any bailout or anything related to the bailout is beyond me. Several times
today on CNN it was mentioned that McCain hadnt even read the original 3 page draft, that most of us here read several days ago. He sure is right on
top of this. (Though I am certain he must have read it by now, for the debates)
politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...
(CNN) – As John McCain returned to Capitol Hill Thursday to support the passage of a package to address the nation’s financial crisis,
Democrats spent the morning gleefully directing reporters to a statement from the Republican nominee Tuesday – three days after the bailout bill was
introduced – that he had not read the text of the administration’s proposal.
"I have not had a chance to see it in writing. I have to examine it,” he told a Cleveland television station.
Obama on the other hand is walking on thin ice too, it is clear that aside from political maneuvering BOTH parties want this bailout. The problem for
both candidates is the the people (the voters) of both parties seem pretty concerted in their opposition to the bailout.
Basically what I expect to see is Obama stating it is necessary, but only because the Republicans made it so, and what I expect to see from McCain is
further token protest, in order to play to the displeasure of the people.
[edit on 26-9-2008 by Illusionsaregrander]