“It’s my belief that this is exactly the time the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible with dealing with this mess," he says."What I think is important is that we don’t suddenly infuse Capitol Hill with presidential politics," he said.
"Presidents are going to have to deal with more than one thing at a time," he says. "It’s not necessary for us to think that we can do only one thing, and suspend everything else."
Apparently Harry Reid also called McCain to let him know that by showing up for an "I'm doing something" photo-op, he wouldn't be helping.
We live in a world where one doesn't need to be physically present in order to be informed about what's going on in DC and to influence that debate. McCain hasn't cast a roll-call vote in 5 months, and Obama hasn't cast one in 2 months... and both have been pretty much campaigning full-time for well over a year but have still been very much able to influence policy and legislation.
On the political side- I think this is still perhaps a risky move for Obama, although he's greatly helped by having been the first to initiate the idea of a bi-partisan statement (via an 8:30 call this morning to the McCain campaign). The "country-first" narrative has been strong for McCain, and a lot will depend on who can better handle the media. If Obama can sell this as a political stunt, and indicate that it was basically his idea first, then I think he can pull it off.
No comments:
Post a Comment