Two words come to mind: pompous and pathetic. McCain rushed to Washington as though he were one of a a handful of indispensable senators with special knowledge of the financial system. Of course, he's not. And his performance in the White House yesterday is proof that McCain is highly dispensable.
"Senator John McCain had intended to ride back into Washington on Thursday as a leader who had put aside presidential politics to help broker a solution to the financial crisis. Instead he found himself in the midst of a remarkable partisan showdown, lacking a clear public message for how to bring it to an end.
"At the bipartisan White House meeting that Mr. McCain had called for a day earlier, he sat silently for more than 40 minutes, more observer than leader, and then offered only a vague sense of where he stood, said people in the meeting."
As for what all this has done to his reputation as presidential candidate, the Times' Nagourney and Bumiller report that it hasn't done much -- if anything -- to enhance John McCain's position.
"... As a matter of political appearances, the day’s events succeeded most of all in raising questions about precisely why Mr. McCain had called for postponing the first debate and returned to Washington to focus on the bailout plan, and what his own views were about what should be done. Those political appearances are a key consideration for Mr. McCain less than six weeks from Election Day and at a time when some polls suggest he is losing ground against Mr. Obama, especially on handling the economy.
"The substance of the financial crisis aside, it was already proving a tough stretch for Mr. McCain. Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska, his running mate, struggled through questions about her foreign policy credentials during an interview with CBS News. Mr. McCain was lampooned on television by David Letterman".
Some Democrats were worried that Obama, for his part, wasn't showing enough concern about the situation. On other hand, "For a moment, at least, it was Mr. Obama presenting himself as the old hand at consensus building, and as the real face of bipartisan politics."
I hope presenting himself as knowledgeable and effective are not far behind. They'd beat pompous and pathetic any day.
