Dingy Harry And Obama Unite On Financial Crisis:’No Presidential Politics’

Sneers and Ears

When John McCain suspended his campaignon Wednesday to work on emergency legislation in congress, I assumed that Obama would follow suit, especially in light of his reputation (in his own mind) as a “uniter” who can get things done.

Here’s what Obama said on 60 Minutes just a few days ago:

(on camera): Why do you think you’d be a good president?

OBAMA: Well, I think that when you think about the challenges we face, these are challenges that require us to look forward and not backwards.

(CROSSTALK)

KROFT: Why you? I mean, why do you think you would be a good president?

OBAMA: Well, I was going to get to that.

KROFT: Go ahead.

OBAMA: You know, I’m a, I’m a practical person. One of the things I’m good at is getting people in a room with a bunch of different ideas who sometimes violently disagree with each other and finding common ground and a sense of common direction. And that’s the kind of approach that I think prevents you from making some of the enormous mistakes that we’ve seen over the last eight years.

So what does Obama do when he has a chance to show his awesome ability to unite during this financial crisis?

He punts.

“What is important is that we don’t suddenly infuse Capitol Hill with presidential politics.”

He has every intention of going to the debate  in Mississippi on Fri., as planned, and when pressed, he says:

“If I can be helpful, then I am prepared to be anywhere at any time”.

Meanwhile,when McCain  phoned the graceless Harry Reid to ask about the prospect of him, Obama, and others working on the proposal, the Dingy one had a statement ready for him:

“This is a critical time for our country,” says the Reid statement. “While I appreciate that both candidates have signaled their willingness to help, Congress and the administration have a process in place to reach a solution to this unprecedented financial crisis. I understand that the candidates are putting together a joint statement at Sen. Obama’s suggestion.  But it would not be helpful at this time to have them come back during these negotiations and risk injecting presidential politics into this process or distract important talks about the future of our nation’s economy.  If that changes, we will call upon them.  We need leadership; not a campaign photo op. If there were ever a time for both candidates to hold a debate before the American people about this serious challenge, it is now.”

Apparently, McCain was speechless:

A source close to Reid said McCain didn’t have much to say after that. Reid, the source says, thinks McCain’s maneuver is a gimmick born from bad poll numbers and the fact that “debate prep must not be going very well.”

McCain senior adviser Mark Salter emailed this to Jake Tapper

“Yesterday, Harry Reid said that consensus couldn’t be achieved without John McCain’s leadership. John stepped up and is providing that leadership. Now Senator Reid seems to have changed his mind for reasons we’ll let him explain. But what he should understand is that this isn’t about Harry Reid or John McCain or Barack Obama. It’s about the American people and, in the words of Warren Buffet, the financial Pearl Harbor they’re facing. John’s committed to doing his part to help avert that calamity. We hope Senator Reid is too.”

Just when you think Dingy Harry can’t get any dingier…he proves you wrong!

Reid sneered at McCain’s plans to cancel his campaigning — including his participation in Friday night’s debate — to return to the Capitol to work on the Wall Street bailout bill.

“It appears to me John McCain is trying to divert attention to his failing campaign,” said Reid. “He can spare an hour and a half of his time and participate in that debate.”

Reid re-told the story ABC News reported earlier, that McCain called Reid to offer his help and Reid read him the statement he’d already issued, implying McCain’s plans were nothing more than “a campaign photo op.”

“With all due respect to my friend John McCain,” said Reid — showing not a great deal of respect for a man who is not necessarily his friend — “we’re doing just fine. This should not have presidential politics doing here.”

Ed Morrissey thinks he knows what’s going on:

…this gambit from Reid is really transparent.  He wanted McCain on the hook so that Reid could blame McCain for the political fallout.  When McCain called Reid’s bluff — and that’s what appears to have happened here — Reid did what Reid always does: retreat.

When I think of the slimy, dirty, dishonest politics the Dems insist on playing, even during times of crisis…and great challenge, my blood boils. Harry Reid is one hateful old coot.

Finally, it took a call from President Bush,to get Obama to agree to go to Washington.

However, Obama still intends to attend the debate Friday evening, even though McCain, apparently won’t be there.

UPDATE:

Apparently, Obama plansto hold some kind of half-assed town hall meeting at Ol’ Mississippi, if McCain fails to show, which is  rich, since Obama, after crowing that he would debate McCain “anytime, anywhere”, declined McCain’s offer to do a series of town hall styled debates, last summer.

I guess he feels much more confident doing it alone. Classic liberalism on display…. competition – BAD.

Allahpundit argues that this puts pressure on McCain to make it, rather than “hand The One a 90-minute campaign commercial in front of a national audience”.

True. But doesn’t Obama start to look more and more like the odious, self-absorbed, jackass that he is, by pulling this?

UPDATE II:

Ace:

DEMOCRATS TANKING DEAL IN ORDER TO PIN FAILURE ON JOHN McCAIN

My God, what despicable scoundrels.

I’m sure the media is dutifully reporting the transparent lies.

I’ve been meaning to do a long post about the huge handicaps Republicans have to overcome every election year, from the openly liberal biased media, to the voter fraud, to the smear campaigns, whole constituencies bought and payed for…It’s getting harder and harder to overcome.