McCain suspends campaign amid financial crisis
Obama rejected McCain’s call and said that amid the financial crisis, it’s more important than ever for he and McCain to sit down and hold a presidential debate.
McCain proposed earlier yesterday that tomorrow’s debate be postponed while the two candidates work to deal with the nation’s financial troubles.
Obama said he and McCain are working on a joint statement setting out their ideas on how to solve the financial crisis. But Obama also said he believes it’s important to go ahead and have the debate.
Obama said: “It’s my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess.”
The duelling statements came after the two senators spoke privately, each trying to portray himself as the bipartisan leader at a time of crisis.
But McCain beat Obama to the punch with the first public statement, saying the Bush administration’s Wall Street bailout plan seemed headed for defeat and a bipartisan solution was urgently needed. If not, McCain said ominously, credit will dry up, people will no longer be able to buy homes, life savings will be at stake and businesses will not have enough money to pay workers.
The move was an effort by the Republican to claim leadership on an issue that has been troublesome for him at a time when his rival is moving ahead in the polls.
McCain said he would put politics aside and return to Washington today to focus on the nation’s financial problems after addressing former president Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative session in New York. He also cancelled his planned appearance yesterday on CBS’s Late Show With David Letterman programme. McCain said he had spoken to President George W Bush and asked him to convene a leadership meeting in Washington that would include him and Obama.
“It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the administration’s proposal,” McCain said. “I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.”
McCain said he has spoken to Obama about his plans and asked the Democratic presidential nominee to join him.
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid issued a statement saying the debate should go on because “we need leadership, not a campaign photo op”. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin, agreed that the debate should go forward and argued that McCain’s return to Washington may not preserve the nonpartisan atmosphere he said is needed to find a way out of the crisis.
“He’ll be bringing the presidential campaign with him to Washington,” Durbin said of McCain on the Senate floor. “Bringing in all the lights and cameras to Capitol Hill, bringing the campaign here, is not going to be the answer.”
The University of Mississippi said it was going forward with preparation for the debate in Oxford.
“We are ready to host the debate, and we expect the debate to occur as planned,” the school said, adding that it had received no notification of any change in the timing or venue.
The move put Obama in a bind. Rejecting the idea would allow McCain alone to appear above politics, but agreeing to suspend campaigning and the debate could make Obama look like he is following McCain’s lead.
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