Posted: Wednesday, 24 September 2008 15:51, Edited: Wednesday, 24 September 2008 15:52
by Dave Mindeman
There is a lot of odd things going on in Presidential politcs today. We seem to be having dueling statements for attention:
First came this from Obama:
At 8:30 this morning, Senator Obama called Senator McCain to ask him if he would join in issuing a joint statement outlining their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal. At 2:30 this afternoon, Senator McCain returned Senator Obama's call and agreed to join him in issuing such a statement. The two campaigns are currently working together on the details.
Then around 2:30pm in the afternoon, McCain released this:
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 night's debate until we have taken action to address this crisis.
Was McCain afraid that the Obama initiative might look too presidential? Delaying the debate and suspending the campaign sounds pretty drastic.
To be honest, this looks like McCain desperation....
