John McCain: Not Maverick; Erratic

"The fundamentals of our economy are strong."

Who said this?  When did they say it?  If one was watching the news as of late, the guess could be made that Bill Clinton said this during the 1990s when the economy was prosperous and both Wall Street and Main Street were satisfied. 

But it wasn't Bill Clinton who said this.  And the person who said this wasn't talking about the '90s.  John McCain said the above quote on Monday, September 15, when Lehman Brothers collapsed and the stock market had its worst day since 9/11.  The American economy, ever since that fateful Monday, has been in a steep dive with no end in sight, leading many to believe that a depression is on the way.

Yes, on Monday the "fundamentals of our economy" were "strong", but by Tuesday John McCain reinvented himself as a the modern day Teddy Roosevelt, rallying against the corruption of Wall Street Barons.  

John McCain continued that theme through last week and into this week when talk of a $700 billion bailout plan was proposed by the White House.  John McCain, sensing a political gold mine, decided to suspend his campaign, call off the debate, and fly to Washington to save the day.  

There was, of course, a few issues to be had with the above statement.  For one, is it really fair to say that your campaign is suspended when your television ads are still playing, your campaign personnel are going on cable news 24/7 to attack Barack Obama, and Sarah Palin, your Vice-Presidential pick, is holding campaign rallies across Pennsylvania?  Secondly, why call off the debate?  Isn't a crisis time like this a time when the American people most need to hear from their leaders, especially the two men who could inherit this economic crisis?  More on the calling off of the debate in a minute.  Finally, John McCain was not needed in Washington.  He is not on the Senate Banking committee, the Senate committee negotiating with the White House.  John McCain, putting it bluntly, went to Washington to look pretty.  He accomplished nothing, and, sadly, Congress is now further away from settling on a plan than they were before John McCain came to their rescue. Why are they further behind?  Well, according to several members of the House and Senate, John McCain did what he said he wouldn't: politicize the event and in turn make a bipartisan effort into an extremely partisan one.  

The debate, as we now know, is back on.  No solution has been reached, but John McCain is, as usual, going back on his word.  It's clear to me and should be obvious to all why McCain attempted to postpone the debate.  Just a few hours after making his "I'm not going to the debate" statement, McCain suggested that the Vice-Presidential debate next week should just be replaced by a Presidential one.  How convenient!  Sarah Palin, the least qualified and knowledgeable VP candidate in history, wouldn't have to face tough questions yet again. Thankfully, Barack Obama and Joe Biden stood firm; Friday's debate would go on, with or without John McCain, and the Vice-Presidential debate would be next week no matter the circumstances.  Left with the option of either going back on his word or leaving Obama with one and a half hours of free national exposure, McCain chose the latter.  

So the debate will go on and we'll finally see McCain and Obama face-to-face confronting each other on the crucial issues facing America, but the happenings of the past two weeks surely brings into question McCain's judgment and rationality.  Perhaps even more than the debate, these last two weeks have drawn a clear contrast between Obama and McCain:  Obama is cool under pressure, while McCain acts erratically.