McCain's new gamble
The trouble on Wall Street has also shaken up the campaign trail as both presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama once again center their verbal wars on the economy and financial situation.
The situation looks dire for McCain because many believe that his party's free market and deregulation ideology is one of factors behind the current troubles.
A CNN survey finds that Americans blame Republicans for the current financial crisis by a two-to-one margin. It also shows that more Americans think Obama would better handle the economy by a 10-percent margin.
Obviously, the financial woes have cost McCain's temporary lead in ratings after the Republican National Convention at the start of September. Without many good choices left, McCain decided to throw the dice again at a pivotal moment of his presidential campaign.
He announced Wednesday that he will suspend his campaign to work on the economy in the Senate and even proposed delaying his first debate with Barack Obama on Friday.
However, Obama, who is in Florida preparing for the debate, said the debate should not be postponed, saying Americans need to watch a debate between him and McCain "now more than ever".
The bold move will surely yield some short-term benefits for McCain, but there are also long-term downsides for the gamble.
By making a gesture of focusing on the most urgent issue facing the country, McCain seems to resonate his campaign slogan of "Country First" and it will make him look like a strong leader.
However, by getting actively involved in the bailout plan, he also faces a dilemma.
If he helps to work out a bailout plan, he will be seen as being closely tied to the unpopular president. If not, there will be more market turmoil, which will make the economy a more dominating campaign issue, in which McCain has no advantage over Obama.
More oversight
One of the intricacies of the political game around the bailout plan is that McCain and Obama actually have a lot in common on how to fix financial markets while they keep dumping each other on the issue.
They even issued a joint statement before Bush made the case for the bailout plan before the nation Wednesday night, saying the plan is "flawed" and calling for bipartisan cooperation.
As a New York Times article pointed out, after a string of financial scandals and crises, a quarter century of deregulation and free-market experiences is giving way to a new round of big-government financial regulation.
A president Obama or a president McCain will surely introduce more oversight into the financial sector and other reforms. Whatever the fate of Bush's bailout plan, that is one certain outcome of the bailout politics.
(Xinhua News Agency September 26, 2008)
