McCain to Attend Debate

After announcing the "suspension" of his campaign on Wednesday and calling for a postponement of Friday's debate, John McCain stormed into Washington hoping to take the lead - or, at least the appearance of the lead - on the bi-partisan bailout package. Unfortunately for Sen. McCain, this has not seemed to benefit him politically, as planned. So, what did McCain do wrong?

Had McCain not called for postponing the debate, this political stunt may have been a success. It would have played well in small-town America, where one can often hear the locals slamming politicians who are campaigning rather than "doing their jobs" as elected officials. However, by calling for a postponement in the debate, Mr. McCain made himself look unprepared to delineate his positions in front of the American public. Furthermore, he allowed the Obama campaign the opportunity to play the "President has to be able to multitask" card, making McCain look incompetent.

Secondly, the McCain camp had to know that the Democratic run congress was not going to let McCain jump in and steal their show. By announcing that there was a deal before the now infamous meeting at the White House - whether they were close to a deal or not - the Democrats were able to paint McCain not as a savior of this bailout proposal, but rather as a nuisance. The dems were able to further exploit the fact that economics are not in McCain's wheelhouse, a point reinforced by McCain's lack of substantive comment since he has been in Washington the past two days.

Finally, and maybe most importantly, McCain now has to delicately remove himself from the corner in which he painted himself and attend the debate. By saying that he would not attend the debate unless a deal was reached on the bailout, McCain took a definite political risk. Obama called his bluff, and it looks as though Obama is going to win this hand. Attending the debate at this juncture makes this "suspension" of the campaign look like a political stunt - whether it was intended to be or not. It also makes McCain look weak as he has folded his hand to Obama. Furthermore, it leaves the public with a frenetic impression of the campaign, an impression of McCain being indecisive. His campaign is beginning to seem more and more like it is relying on tactics rather than strategy. Meanwhile, Obama continues to look cool and collected, much more presidential, during this financial crisis.

The one upside to this whole event is that it could help to lower expectations for McCain in tonight's debate. This can clearly give McCain cover if he under-performs. His aides can say that, unlike Obama, he has not been preparing for the debate over the last several days due to the fact that he has been working hard trying to get the bailout bill passed. If McCain does well, they are able to say that he is brilliant at multitasking, a man who can lay out his vision for America in a debate format while, at the same time, work day and night on legislation that is trying to save America.

The public will have to wait and see how this all plays out. Will McCain and his team be able to spin themselves out of this apparent gaffe, or is this the beginning of the end for the McCain campaign. Regardless, Sen. McCain's aggressive over-extension seems to have put him in a very negative position - which serves as a reminder that one should always fight from a defensive position.

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