I’ve been working on a rant about our current political situation for a couple days now, trying to figure out exactly how I want to word things, but the recent events surrounding the bailout negotiations forced my hand, and I’ve got to post this piece of it now. When McCain announced he wanted to delay the debates, to me it stank of bullshit from the start. I was griping all day to my coworkers about how crucial it is that presidents multi-task, and that no one was going to swoon over his misguided attempt to show voters how concerned he was for the American people. Putting politics aside to focus on the immediate economic issue at hand? There’s something quite paradoxical about that notion and it frightened/frightens me—the idea that McCain views the presidential campaign as some kind of abstraction? Yikes. When Obama made his comment (“With respect to the debates, it’s my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess. And I think that it is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once.”), I felt like he took the words right out of my mouth.

When negotiations fell apart yesterday, though, it occurred to me that there might be something far more sinister than political posturing going on. Perhaps it’s the conspiracist in me, but McCain has already admitted that by 4pm on Thursday when he went to meet with the President, he knew “there never was a deal.” Doesn’t it seem possible, if not likely, that he knew that talks would stall from the beginning, carrying over into Friday, and that’s why he called for the debate postponement?

If that’s true, and McCain did have prior knowledge of the “Republican ambush,” it would make more sense logically for him to postpone his participation in the debates, but still rankles ethically. I stand by my assertion that the President is going to be required to divide his attention across many areas, and a crisis in one of those areas shouldn’t completely derail all the others. Even if he had additional information as to the length of time the bailout negotiations would require, suspending his campaign was still a desperate, insincere—and in my opinion, failed—attempt at oneupsmanship. In my mind, this doesn’t prove how well McCain prioritizes the needs of Americans, rather it shows his inability to assimilate and accommodate the many facets of those needs.

EDIT: As of 11:23, McCain announced he’ll participate in tonight’s debates. A good move, in my opinion, but the damage has been done.

EDIT: McCain’s most recent campaign statement accuses Obama of political posturing. Which is just so… So perfect. So fucking perfect.