McCain’s Rock And Obama’s Hard Place

John McCain has skillfully maneuvered Barack Obama into a “damned if you do and damned if you don’t” position smack dab in the middle of a rock and a hard place.  No matter what you think of the merits of McCain’s decision to suspend his campaign and return to work, ostensibly to lend his “expertise” to the effort to fix the country’s current economic problems, at least it’s bold and decisive action that forces Obama to respond in kind; boldly and decisively.  So far, though, he’s just been wimpy.

CNN reports that while Obama has been making speeches:

“It’s my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person will be the next president,” Obama said in Clearwater, Florida. “It is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once. It’s more important than ever to present ourselves to the American people.”

John McCain has been, well, doing stuff:

Announcing his decision to suspend his campaign, McCain said, “I am calling on the president to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Sen. Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.”

snip

Salter also said McCain called President Bush and talked to colleagues in Washington and learned that passage of the bailout plan was next to impossible.

McCain’s campaign also said that he had canceled his appearance on “The Late Show with David Letterman” on Wednesday night.

Now, given that Obama “suspended” his campaign, canceled his “Saturday Night Live” appearance and went home due to Hurricane Ike, he can’t very well stand on principle here.  Besides, McCain’s call to Bush worked.  An AP-Yahoo News headline screams so:

Bush invites McCain, Obama to White House meeting

With extraordinary stakes on the line, President Bush invited both men vying to succeed him and key congressional leaders to a White House meeting to hammer out a massive financial rescue plan. The president also was appealing directly to Americans in a prime-time address Wednesday to help push his tough-sell bailout into reality.

snip

So, not long before his planned 12-minute address to the nation from the grand East Room, Bush took the unusual step of calling Democrat Barack Obama to invite him to the White House for the meeting on Thursday, said presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino. The White House said the presidential invitation was also extended to Republican John McCain and to Republican and Democratic leaders from Capitol Hill.

So, on a day when all the stars were supposed to be lined up in his favor, Obama finds himself playing defense after being slapped upside the head with the unwelcome news that poll lead, or no poll lead, he is not yet president and still has a day job that requires his attention.  And, darn it to heck, he can’t even blame the messenger.

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