McCain's Gambit Leads to Standoff

So here's John McCain, down in the latest polls, desperately trying to look like a leader. What does he do? He dramatically suspends his campaign, and says he wants to postpone Friday's debate. I'm sure his boys Rick Davis and Steve Schmidt told him the move would back Barack Obama into a corner. Go along, and McCain looks presidential, a man putting the nation's fiscal woes above his own personal gain. Refuse, and Obama looks like just another selfish, self absorbed politician.

Unfortunately, it didn't work out quite the way they diagrammed it on paper. Obama responded by saying, in essence, that anyone wanting to be president should be able to chew gum and walk at the same time. His people then released a timeline to yesterday's events that showed it was Obama who contacted McCain first, not about pushing the debate back, but about a bi-partisan show of unity in addressing the serious financial mess the country faces. Just after the two of them spoke yesterday afternoon, McCain went on television with his ploy.

Now, it looks like there's a standoff. McCain backed away just a bit, saying he'd debate if the bailout package was passed by Friday night. Yet for John McCain to act as though his presence is somehow crucial to getting a bailout through the Senate is beyond arrogance. As his colleague Sen. Bernie Sanders told me last night, John McCain hasn't been around all that much of late.

Barack Obama is right. Now is the time for the candidates to debate the economy. All that had to happen was a change in the theme. Foreign policy, the original focus of tomorrow's debate, can wait. John McCain knows this. Could there be another reason why he's holding out for postponement?

Could it be he's just not ready?