As you may or may not know, the two men currently running for President are both sitting US Senators. Therefore, it should not have been a surprise when Senator John McCain (R-AZ) suspended his campaign this afternoon and asked to postpone Friday night’s scheduled Presidential debate taking place at Ole Miss due to the current economic debates going on on Capitol Hill this week.
McCain suspended his campaign this afternoon “calling on the president to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.”
The problem specifically being the $700 billion bail out legislation that Congress has been negotiating with the White House. Senate Majority Leader claimed “It would not be helpful at this time to have them come back during these negotiations and risk injecting presidential politics into this process or distract important talks about the future of our nation’s economy. We need leadership, not a campaign photo op.”
Obama commented on the McCain decision by saying “if I can be helpful then I’m prepared to be anywhere, any time … [I] don’t want to infuse Capitol Hill with presidential politics.”
What the Obama campaign fails to realize is that until November 4, his job is not just to be campaigning, he is an elected official which requires making decisions and being a leader. Would it be too much to ask for both of them to be doing their jobs during this time of need for the American People? Both Senators are major players in the US Senate and both could contribute greatly to this debate while showing the American people their leadership skills in action rather than just claiming leadership during a campaign stump speech.
Meanwhile, the University of Mississippi is continuing preparations for Friday night’s debate. The McCain campaigned noted that he would participate in the debates “if an agreement was reached on Friday morning.” While the debate is scheduled to be focusing largely on foreign policy issues, there may be a large portion of economic debate thrown in based on the recent current events.