Wednesday, September 24, 2008

McCain to Washington   [Rich Lowry]

I'm a "the show must go on" guy. I didn't like that McCain cancelled the first day of the Republican convention. So I don't see why we can't have a presidential debate even in the midst of this crisis. On the other hand, my preferences aside, there's the politics of McCain's move, which may work to his advantage. 1) He needed to change the story line and flush out the "fundamentals of the economy strong" mis-step from last week, and this does it; 2) it's not going to strike most people as wrong or unreasonable for a senator to go to Washington and participate in a senate debate over this historic bailout package; 3) as long as it isn't perceived as gimmicky, people will like the anti-politics-as-usual feel of McCain "suspending" his campaign; 4) they can still have the debate next week. Earlier this evening, as I was wondering how this would play out, I thought either Obama was going to drag McCain to Oxford and that'd be the sign Obama won this mini-duel, or McCain would drag Obama to Washington and it'd be a sign McCain won it. Now, with an assist from President Bush, McCain has Obama following him to Washington.

09/24 11:19 PMShare