McCain's really blowing it this time

Republican Presidential nominee John McCain is squandering his opportunity to display real leadership. McCain announced a couple of days ago he was suspending his campaign because the country's financial crisis was more important than partisan Presidential politics. As it turns out, he's playing partisan politics at its worst.

Here's the way the scenario should have unfolded for him. McCain should have flown to Washington, summoned Republican congress members about him and instructed them "Here's what we're going to do." Then he could have waltzed into the White House, told President Bush and the American people he had single handedly saved the United States from financial ruin and gone on to win the election in a landslide.

Instead, he pandered to the far right wing of his party -- that group he sucked up by naming the unqualified Sarah Palin as his running mate -- and sat there quietly while they successfully derailed Bush's bailout plan. C'mon, John, if you're going to try to convince us you're suspending your Presidential campaign for the good of the nation than you've got to do a whole lot better than this.

Democratic nominee Barack Obama who stood to lose a lot for putting politics ahead of solving the financial crisis actually came out looking far more the statesman than McCain when Obama said of the failed negotiations: “What I’ve found, and I think it was confirmed today, is that when you inject presidential politics into delicate negotiations, it’s not necessarily as helpful as it needs to be. ... When you’re not worrying about who’s getting credit, or who’s getting blamed, then things tend to move forward a little more constructively.”

And speaking of the bailout plan, I have a major problem with a proposal that only helps Wall Street bankers and does absolutely nothing to help homeowners who are struggling to pay their mortgages. Afterall, it was the downward-spiraling mortgage situation that caused Washington Mutual to fold yesterday. I could argue that the government has more of a responsibility to help the average American homeowner than it does to the bankers on Wall Street, but I'm just once voice shouting into the wind.