Obama Plays President, McCain Plays Politics

Details are coming out on the events of the day and it is crystal clear what is going on here. Barack Obama reached out to John McCain to try to work together to calm fears and settle the current economic crisis. John McCain and his Rovian pals tried to play this for political advantage.

It’s going to backfire.

Huge.

Did you catch the details? Obama called McCain at 8:30am to work on a joint statement. McCain calls back at 2:30pm and agrees…then shortly after suspends his campaign, calls on he and Obama to go back to Washington, and wants to delay the debate Friday. All of this before getting a joint statement out, effectively nullifying such.

It’s playing politics with this issue and it’s completely clear. To add to that is what happened immediately after McCain’s announcement:

Immediately after the announcement, White House press secretary Dana Perino released this statement: “We welcome Sen. McCain’s announcement. We are making progress in negotiations on the financial markets rescue legislation, but we have not finished it yet. Bipartisan support from Sens. McCain and Obama would be helpful in driving to a conclusion.”

Immediately. Almost as if planned or scripted. Huh.

I’m glad Obama didn’t bend on the debate and he (more softly) made my “walk and chew crisis” point rather well. No reason they can’t do both. McCain is wanting to portray Obama as unwilling to help. He’s wanting to use this as some sort of “country first” argument. They better not let him get away with it. Let’s see how long the “bi-partisan” nature of their argument takes to wear off.

3…2…1