From the Florida McCain Campaign
As you know, John McCain's decision to suspend his campaign on Wednesday was made in the hopes that politics could be set aside to address our economic crisis.
In response, Americans saw a familiar spectacle in Washington, DC. At a moment of crisis that threatens the economic security of American families, Washington played the typical blame game instead of setting aside politics and working together to find a that would avert a collapse of financial markets without squandering hundreds of billions of taxpayers' money to bailout out Wall Street for their risky lending practices.
Both parties in both Houses of Congress and the Administration need to come together to find a solution that would deserve the trust of the American people. And while there were attempts to do that, much of yesterday was spent fighting over who would get the credit for a deal and who would get the blame for failure. There was no deal or offer yesterday that had a majority of support in Congress. There was no deal yesterday that included adequate protections for the taxpayers. It is not enough to cut deals behind closed doors and then try to force it on the rest of Congress especially when it costs thousands of dollars for every American family.
The difference between Barack Obama and John McCain was apparent during the White House meeting yesterday where Barack Obama's priority was political posturing. John McCain listened to all sides so he could help focus the debate on finding a bipartisan resolution that is in the interest of taxpayers and homeowners. The Democratic interests stood together in opposition to an agreement that would accommodate additional taxpayers' protections.
Senator McCain has spent this morning talking to members of the Administration, Members of the Senate, and Members of the House. He is optimistic that there has been significant progress toward a bipartisan agreement now that a framework has been established for all parties to be represented in negotiations, including both Republicans and Democrats.
John McCain is now in route to the presidential debate this evening in Mississippi. Following the debate, he will return to Washington to continue working towards an agreement that both parties can come together to support, and an agreement that is fair to and respectful to the taxpayers and homeowners of this country.
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Many believe that McCain was grandstanding for political reasons when he suspended his campaign and notified Obama and the Debate Commission that he would not participate in the debate if he felt he could do more good in Washington working on the economic bailout.
Political reasons? Well, duh. He's a politician and I'm cynical enough to believe that there is no politician alive who doesn't first think about how his actions will affect his political career.
I have also heard, well, okay, Washington insiders who know him say that McCain is honest and as far as they are concerned (my translation of what they said), he truly means it when he says "Country First" and that he would rather lose an election than to put politics or his career first. They believe that McCain believes that he can make a difference by being in Washington and felt that this was an issue of such importance that he believed it was more important to the country than his campaign.
Obama himself has said that this issue is so critical that it could lead to economic disaster. I grant that he kept in "constant" touch with Washington regarding the crisis, but he felt that a debate was more important than going to Washington to work on a crisis that could lead to an economic depression. He's a sitting Senator, a presidential candidate and, if indeed he can multi-task, surely he could prepare for the debate and have personal input into a crisis he will have to deal with if he is elected. It's only my opinion, but I don't think too highly of Obama feeling that "speechifying" at a debate in Mississippi is more important that at least attempting to plug a hole in the national economy.
Personally, if I thought a economic crisis of such importance that it could lead to an economic depression to rival, if not dwarf, that of the 1930's would be dropped in my lap in four months time, I would want to have my fingers in the pot. I'm of the opinion that if a mistake is made now, I would be better off having personal knowledge of what was behind the thinking that lead to that blunder. I don't want to be blindsided by something I might have been able to forestall the disaster. I'm no economic genius, but sometimes, that's a good thing. Those who are too close, maybe have too much knowledge, just can't see the forest for the trees.
Ever hear the story of the semi that was driven under an overpass? Well, it seems the truck was just a bit taller, or the overpass just a bit lower than the driver realized. He got partway through and got stuck. Police were called to the scene. Tow trucks were called. Finally highway engineers were called in. They had about decided the best way to get the truck out from under the overpass was to remove part of the overpass. The engineers were getting ready to call in cranes to lift the part of the overpass immediately over the truck so that the tow trucks could pull it out. Talk was that it would take several days to dismantle the overpass and weeks, not to mention possibly millions of dollars, to repair it.
Along came a young kid on a bike. He looked it over probably was getting in the way of the highway department engineers. Well, the well-educated engineers were getting tired of stepping around the kid and asked the cops to shoo him away. The kid got on his bike, tilted his head to the side, looked at the truck and asked:
"Why don't you let some air out of the tires?"
It was such an obvious answer that would get the truck unstuck and out from under the overpass that even the engineers didn't see it. I don't know what it would do to the tires, but at least the obstruction would be removed.
The idea is that it took someone who may not have known anything about engineering and trucks and construction, but who could see the problem with a fresh, clear eye and see the obvious answer.
What I'm saying is that it's possible that everyone who was involved in "working" on this bailout, may not be able to see the obvious. That could have been Obama. We know now that he and McCain both were among the tree-see-ers. Obama was invited by President Bush, at McCain's suggestion since they are both presidential candidates, to attend that now infamous meeting of the so-called minds. From everything we've heard, McCain sat back and listened. I don't think I've heard what Obama said or did in the meeting. Harry Reid apparently lost what is left of his mind. Others may have also. I understand there was screaming across the table. I'm not sure who was screaming and I don't really want to know who was indulging in such childish behavior instead of pushing up their shirtsleeves, put the economy and the American taxpayer, and their country first, and left the credit taking for another time.
It seems like there is enough blame to go around, not to mention finger-pointing at who was more presidential; McCain for "running" to Washington to try to fix it, or Obama for posturing. Let's not forget the jibe that Harry Reid made that may have encouraged John McCain that he was needed in Washington.
As it ends ups, Mr. Obama followed Mr. McCain to Washington, and they will both go to Oxford Mississippi to debate foreign policy. McCain feels that enough progress has been made that he can now comfortably participate in the debate. And and we're still waiting for Washington to figure out how to fix the mess they made.
Yes, Washington made the mess. They allowed lobbyists to prevail so that laws were changed to allow people who couldn't afford the mortgage to buy a house, which lead to greed and corruption, which lead to foreclosure on the property. The mortgage brokers had not the first care for the people they knew would not be able to afford the mortgage. Oh, there were other reasons, most of which can be traced right back to Washington greed. Plenty of Washington congressmen made money on the deal and don't kid yourself, they wouldn't have allowed the changes if didn't benefit them in some way. Some more than others and on both sides of the aisle. It's not just a Democratic or Republic mess. It's bi-partisan and they need to shut up, sit down, and clean their mess up. Congress apparently thinks that the best way to deal with something is to ignore the people who are warning about it until it gets to be such a problem that it will impact not just the United States, but the entire world. Then to fix it, throw money at it. That might really be the proper way to handle it, but Washington wouldn't know, that's just modus operandi for Washington.
Al-Queda doesn't need to fly planes into our buildings anymore. They can just sit back and watch Washington destroy us.
