How Is McCain Playing the Bailout?
The blogosphere is rife with speculation on the strategy behind John McCain "suspending" his campaign and going to Washington to work out the details on the proposed $700 billion bailout of financial institutions. The theories span the spectrum, from the honorable (he's putting country first to help the country find a way out of this crisis) to the politically scheming (he wants to postpone his debate with Obama until next week, bumping Sarah Palin's debate with Joe Biden into the indefinite future).
Paul Burka offers his own unique theory which is a hybrid of principle and cunning. Burka predicts that McCain, in the end, is going to vote against the deal worked out by President George Bush, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid and supported by Barack Obama. Burka thinks McCain will pitch his opposition in a way to energize his base (government should let free markets work themselves out) and peel away working class Democrats (government shouldn't bail out the fat cats after letting working stiffs lose their houses). In Burka's script, McCain plays the maverick again, standing up for free markets and workers, while Bush and Obama, arms locked, stand with the billionaire bankers on Wall Street.
I credit Paul Burka with original thinking, but I see two big problems with his theory. First, why would McCain make a big deal of going back to Washington to solve this problem if he planned all along to oppose the solution? He'll end up looking like he failed. A principled failure is still a failure.
Second, Harry Reid has already announced that there'll be no deal unless John McCain and a majority of Republicans sign on. Reid saw from the start the danger of being maneuvered into a dilemma by President Bush, where Democrats either let the country's economy collapse or provide the votes that commit $700 billion of taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street CEOs. Republicans, in the minority in Congress and not responsible for getting a bill passed, would have the luxury of standing on the sideline throwing rocks at whatever solution is hammered out between the White House and the Democrats. Reid has said he won't let that happen. Surely, Barack Obama is astute enough to avoid the trap as well.
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