John McCain’s unexpected suspension of his presidential campaign yesterday strikes me as a purely political maneuver, adopted to once again create a distraction or upheaval in a campaign that’s not going his way and, possibly, to get out of a debate that he had concluded would not serve him well. It feels like “cut and run,” as opposed to honoring a commitment. Not at all what I would have hoped for from the senator and a man who would be president.
McCain’s lurching through this campaign season has been distressing to watch. Rather than soldier on with determination to a stated goal, he has misspoken, changed his position, and bounced from one unexpected decision to another, seemingly with no plan or direction at all. Until yesterday he’d expressed no interest in the bailout plan being discussed in Washington. If he was so desperately concerned about the issue, he could have been in Washington. In the meantime, both he and Obama have unlimited resources for following every minute of the discussion while they remain on the campaign trail. They also have the resources for returning to Washington on a moment’s notice if their physical presence is required.
To date, McCain’s campaign has been more a campaign of distraction than of information, of stunts and attention-getting, rather than of substance. I thought he “jumped the shark” when he named Palin as his running mate; I don’t know how to describe this latest move, except maybe desperation.
I don’t know what is worse, McCain changing his mind like he changes his underwear OR Obama not saying anything; waiting to see what people want to hear, than saying it so elequently.
______________
You sound like my son. I prefer to think Obama is thoughtfully weighing all the options before he speaks. With McCain, I worry what will happen when one of his snap decisions is wrong — like bombing Iran and then saying, “Oops” or losing his temper during some critical foreign negotiations.
I agree. That brief decision by McCain was definitely just political pandering. Everyone saw through it, which is – I guess – why he changed his mind.
_____________
It was worse than pandering. He risked upsetting (and some say he did upset) some very delicate negotiations that were critical to the nation’s economic well-being. This from a man who has said himself he knows little about economics and who claims to put “country first.”