McCain: Suspend Campaign, Postpone Friday Debate

Senator John McCain suspended his campaign on Wednesday so that he could work with Congress on passing critical legislation regarding America's economy. McCain said he spoke with Senator Obama about his decision and suggested their debate (scheduled for Friday) be postponed.

McCain hoped Republicans and Democrats would unite during this crisis, saying: "Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country." While Obama has not yet made a statement, his campaign officials say, according to the Associated Press, that the senator would prefer to move ahead with the debate.

McCain detractors are likely to accuse him of using the current economic crisis as a political tool. But anything a presidential candidate does during the final months of the campaign is suspect.

Speaking as a voter, I feel indifferent about McCain's decision, mainly because I'm not convinced Congress will accomplish anything in the next few days that will provide a real solution to the economy's problems. McCain's actions certainly look good at face value. He cares about the country. He cares about America's crisis enough to set aside his campaigning.

And because he cares, he is doing something about it. These actions are noble and good. The fact of the matter is that McCain will be there in Washington, working hard to help America.

I think Rod Dreher said it best on his Crunchy Con blog: "Here you have a man [Obama] who wants to talk about fixing the economy, versus a man who is actually on Capitol Hill right now doing the hard work to actually fix the economy. I mean, hell, this is by far the biggest issue the next president will have to deal with; you'd think a real leader would want to have some hand in crafting the solution."

My feeling is that, of course, this is a political move by McCain, but it also happens to be something he believes is the right thing to do. I don't doubt his sincerity or his desire to make good things happen for America. His track record proves that he makes America his number one priority, and this is one more instance where he is living what he believes.

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