McCain beset by ironies in the bank bailout and the presidential debate

September 26, 3:46 PMPolitical Issues ExaminerJudah Freed

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Despite a pledge to suspend his campain until congress acted on the financial crisis, John McCain is now arrving in Mississippi for the presidential debate tonight with Barack Obama. Meanwhile, back in Washington, DC, Republican and Democratic legislators are still wrangling over conflicting proposals to resolve the financial crisis.

How ironic that conservative Republicans might derail the bank bailout plan of conservative Republican President George W. Bush on the grounds that the plan is too socialist for them.

How ironic that these conservative Republicans are opposing the Bush plan in the name of conservative John McCain, most notably House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), who complained that McCain was left out of the plan's development, when in the end these conservatives might be a contributing to McCain losing the November election.

How ironic that after McCain's lofty proclamation on Wednesday about not going to the debate if a bailout deal was not yet in place, McCain reversed himself two day later when he considered the damage he'd do to his own campaign if he let Barack Obama have the stage to himself tonight.

Such ironies and contradictions flow from John McCain's approach to solving problems, in my opinion.

Because his approach to problem-solving is based chiefly on emotions -- his need to fight, to win, to be victorious, regardless of the cost to himself -- John McCain has painted himself into a tactical corner. If McCain's approach to problems was a reliance on pragmatic logic, frankly, he would not find himself in the dilemma facing him now.

In deciding whether to participate in the presidential debate tonight, McCain realized that If he kept his word and refused to debate, he'd lose directly by default. If he broke his word and agreed to debate tonight, he'd lose indirectly by defaulting on his promise.

Either way, John McCain loses. How ironic.

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