[1]John McCain today announced he is suspending his campaign [2] while he works in Congress to resolve the current economic crisis. He also asked that the debate scheduled for this Friday night be postponed.
Here are John’s remarks made today in New York City (courtesy of the McCain-Palin campaign):
America this week faces an historic crisis in our financial system. We must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake. Businesses will not have enough money to pay their employees. If we do not act, ever[y] corner of our country will be impacted. We cannot allow this to happen.
Last Friday, I laid out my proposal and I have since discussed my priorities and concerns with the bill the Administration has put forward. Senator Obama has expressed his priorities and concerns. This morning, I met with a group of economic advisers to talk about the proposal on the table and the steps that we should take going forward. I have also spoken with members of Congress to hear their perspective.
It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the Administration’s proposal. I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.
Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me.
I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.
We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved. I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday night’s debate until we have taken action to address this crisis.
I am confident that before the markets open on Monday we can achieve consensus on legislation that will stabilize our financial markets, protect taxpayers and homeowners, and earn the confidence of the American people. All we must do to achieve this is temporarily set politics aside, and I am committed to doing so.
Following September 11th, our national leaders came together at a time of crisis. We must show that kind of patriotism now. Americans across our country lament the fact that partisan divisions in Washington have prevented us from addressing our national challenges. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country.
McCain sends a good message here: he and Obama have a commitment to their current jobs as Senators and if they are planning to be President, need to take a strong leadership role in working throuh the current crisis. This is a great opportunity to demonstrate those skills.
Let’s hope it doesn’t create a circus.
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By the way, ABC, NBC and CBS all have their Friday night schedule blocked off for the debate. It will be interesting to see if the debate does get postponed, and what the networks will do with their programming… presumably shows that would have started on October 3 are in the can (although, these days, they could still be in post-production). Starting a week early could be workable, or could find a dearth of viewers. I bet the networks either give us reruns or indepth analysis of the current economic crisis and election issues.
Update: fixing font size problem.