Profiles in courage? McCain, Obama may skip bailout vote
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Here’s a quick one this morning: The website Politico reports that Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama may skip the vote on the Paulson bailout plan -- if and when the plan comes to a vote in the Senate. From Politico:
Sen. John McCain has no plans to return to Washington this week, even though on Monday he expressed discomfort with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson ‘s trillion-dollar bailout plan and has offered his own rescue proposal. ... Senior Obama strategist Robert Gibbs said the campaign would be monitoring the process as it unfolds this week, but as of Monday, the campaign would not commit to Obama making the trip back to Washington – even though the bailout proposal has taken a central role in Obama’s stump speeches.
The bloviation part: I hope no one will argue with a straight face these guys are too busy to go to Washington to vote. They both have access to jet airplanes. They make their own schedules.
This is a chance to show leadership. To date neither of these guys has shown much leadership on the subject -- neither bothered to even mention the credit crisis in their convention speech. Were they unaware of it? Forgot about it? Are they afraid to take a stand? Do these guys want to lead, follow, or do they want to get out of the way?
--Peter Viles
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Photo Credit: L.A. Times