McCain Suspends Campaign, Wants to Delay Debate Due to Financial Crisis

Radio reports indicate that John McCain is suspending his campaign and asking Obama to do the same so both can return to their day jobs in Washington to work on the financial crisis. He's also asking that the first debate be delayed until the crisis passes.

I'm sorry, but this is dumb. There are plenty of people working on this problem. Neither McCain nor Obama are going to fix it and with only 40 days remaining in the campaign, it doesn't make sense to bring our electoral system to a halt.

Bad move, McCain. The Obama people will undoubtedly laugh off the request and claim it has something to do with "desperation" and the latest bad polls for McCain.

UPDATE: McCain's statement.

UPDATE 2: Obama's campaign is not interested in delaying the debate. My guess is that Obama will continue with his debate prep in Florida while McCain wanders the halls of the Senate looking for something to do.

This was an overreaction on McCain's part. The GOP played the crisis game with Hurricane Gustav, and now we're doing it again with this bailout. The world doesn't have to stop every time something happens. I can't think of any better way to turn a crisis into a panic than by taking the kind of action McCain just did. Add to that a presidential prime-time speech, and I'm guessing the stock market is going to take a real dump in the next couple of days.

UPDATE 3: I'm listening to Obama's statement. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with him on the debate issue. He says that it's more important than ever for America to hear both candidates, one of which will become president-elect in 40 days. He also said that presidents need to be able to do more than one thing at a time, and there's no reason why they can't deal with the crisis while continuing their other activities. I personally believe that was the right approach to this, and McCain blew it. Again, I hate to say it, but Obama took the more presidential route on this issue.

Here's an idea - leave McCain in Washington and have Sarah Palin debate Obama.

And by the way, if it's so important that McCain drop everything and deal with this crisis, why is he still speaking at Bill Clinton's Globaloney Initiative tomorrow morning?

UPDATE 4: Harry Reid tells McCain "no, thanks". He doesn't want McCain to return to Washington, and added this:

Reid, the source says, thinks McCain's maneuver is a gimmick born from bad poll numbers and the fact that "debate prep must not be going very well."

I told you so.