By Tom Hart
The Daily Cardinal
The McCain campaign made another strategic move this week on the campaign trail. In Republican Presidential nominee John McCain's latest decision, the presidential candidate announced that he will not participate in the first presidential debate tonight unless Congress strikes a deal for the economic bailout plan. Give me a break.
The arrival of McCain's camp in Washington D.C. will only distract Congress from passing this bill. An infusion of presidential politics will hamper bipartisan efforts to get the bill hammered through. This decision also puts the Democratic party in a tough situation. If a bill is somehow passed, the McCain campaign will be sure to pounce on the opportunity to let people know that nothing was solved until the Republican presidential nominee came to the rescue. Democrats should not prolong the bill's passing because of McCain's arrival, but the way partisan politics have overtaken Washington in the last 10 years, the decision to do so would not be surprising.
Why would the McCain campaign choose to postpone the debate anyway? There are a few reasons. A new NBC News-Wall Street Journal opinion poll has shown that the American public believes Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama would do a better job at improving the economy than McCain by a 46 to 34 percent margin. McCain needs to shore up public opinion before confidence in his economic intelligence falls even lower. He is attempting to do so by appearing to take action on an important economic issue rather than speaking his thoughts directly to the public.
I, for one, am suspicious of the action: What good will come of this move - other than stirring up more partisan politics? U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, had a very poignant quote on the situation: It's as if, you know, you're in the middle of drawing an amazing painting and someone else comes in and says, 'Hey, come in, let me throw my brush marks on there.' It just doesn't make sense.""
Another possible motivation behind the debate postponement threat lies in the fact that a replacement debate would take the place of the vice presidential debate between vice presidential hopefuls Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. The first vice presidential debate would be postponed indefinitely, thus keeping Palin out of the media spotlight even further into the campaign season. Her highly scripted appearances and exclusion from interviews has left the public clueless about her ability. The McCain campaign apparently does not have faith in her ability to handle tough questions and this ploy provides more evidence of that belief.
A debate is what the American public needs right now. The entire campaign season has been filled with fluffy rhetoric, personal attacks and photo opportunities. We do not need more of the same. The first debate is set to be focused on foreign policy issues, and what McCain really should have done if he wanted to be an honorable politician was demand the central topic be the economy. The American public needs to hear what each candidate has to say on the issues in a one-on-one environment. Simply hearing news that one of the candidates is returning to Washington to participate in abstract debates that realistically will not reach the ears of the majority of Americans continues to prolong the inevitable questions that need answering. Who are these candidates? What do they have to say? If the McCain campaign has their way, both of these questions will remain unanswered.
Tom Hart is a senior majoring in political science and english. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
