Americans measure both leaders and potential leaders against how they would handle problems of the day. The problem of the day is the crisis on Wall St., and Senator John McCain is violating the first rule of campaigning: he’s not. Now- if he were the chairman of the Federal Reserve, that might make sense on at least two levels, that he would have been central to having caused the mess, and central to clean it up. But he is neither.
He does not want to show up at a debate on Friday night in Mississippi if the crisis is not resolved. Question: what business gets conducted on a Friday night? Practically none. It’s not to say that people can’t work on Friday night, but very little need be done then. Especially by him.
John McCain made his mark on foreign policy and on generally conservative domestic policies. He is not now, nor has he ever been a banker, sat on a banking committee, or promoted policies relating to banks.
This very much reminds me of the time President Carter barricaded himself in the Whitehouse during the Iranian hostage crisis. McCain should expect the same results Carter got.