Mr. McCain Goes (Back) to Washington

John McCain has suspended his campaign and is heading back to DC to deal with the economic crisis.  He also wants the debate to be postponed.  The University of Mississippi is telling NBC News that the debate will go ahead as planned, too.

Color me puzzled.

On the surface, it simply appears to be a political stunt.  McCain has admitted to knowing little about the economy, so his presence in Washington will be merely symbolic.  On the flip side, he’s given Obama a green-light to show his leadership bona fides by coming back to DC to work on a bi-partisan bill to help bail out Wall Street.

This also comes after the AP is reporting that the Obama campaign contacted the McCain campaign this morning about making a joint statement:

McCain said he has spoken to Obama about his plans and asked the Democratic presidential nominee to join him. 

The Obama campaign said Obama had called McCain around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to propose that they issue a joint statement in support of a package to help fix the economy as soon as possible. McCain called back six hours later and agreed to the idea of the statement, the Obama campaign said. McCain’s statement was issued to the media a few minutes later.

So, in a nutshell, the McCain campaign didn’t even take the initiative on this.

Either I’m dead right, or I’m crazy!  Indeed Mr. McCain, indeed.

(Courtesy www.americanrhetoric.com for image)

UPDATE:  McCain’s camp has a different version of events with regards to who wanted to go back home first.  Methinks that this may be highlighting the politicization of the move.  McCain needs to tell his spokespeople to hush and push the need to come back and work for a solution.  Nitpicking over whos idea it was doesn’t quite help.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: McCain is pulling all of his advertising as a sign he is committed to working on an economic solution.  He’s also calling Obama to pull ads as well.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is wary of McCain coming back because of the risk of injecting presidential politics into the discussions:

From the Politico:

“This is a critical time for our country. While I appreciate that both candidates have signaled their willingness to help, Congress and the Administration have a process in place to reach a solution to this unprecedented financial crisis.

I understand that the candidates are putting together a joint statement at Senator Obama’s suggestion. But 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. If that changes, we will call upon them. We need leadership; not a campaign photo op.

If there were ever a time for both candidates to hold a debate before the American people about this serious challenge, it is now.”

Obama will be commenting on McCain’s move shortly.