My, my, what has John McCain gotten himself into this time?  It might be easy to say that the House GOP Caucus bears 99% of the responsibility (and it is absolutely correct to say that the "Pelosi gave too partisan a speech" excuse is lame and transparent politics -- I mean, if you listened to C-Span at all, many members on both sides gave speeches expressing outrage as they voted yes or no -- hers was no more or less partisan than many of the others. 

When did the Republicans become such a bunch of pussies?  Or is there another explanation -- the unbearable brain damage of being John McCain.  

When Obama said that injecting Presidential politics into the proceess could cause more harm than good, that was not abdication of leadership, that was true leadership done Obama-style.  You don't need to be the center of attention.  Amazing things happen when you don't care who gets the credit.  And terrible things can happen when someone hellbent on politicizing an issue for his own personal benefit does it in a very clumsy way.  Lets review the facts: 

1.  McCain tried to make himself the center of attention on this bailout for political reasons -- announcing with great fanfare his campaign suspension (a total fraud) and his not decision not to attend the debate until the problem was resolved (also a fraud), allegedly  for the sake of putting country over politics. 

2.  McCain then took 22 hours to get to DC, stopping for at least one interview, the Clinton Global Initiative conference (to give an address), several fancy meals, a political meeting with the Lady Rothschild, and of course stiffing David Letterman, before he actually got there.  Some crisis.

3.  Once in DC on Thursday, he sat in on a few meetings -- the one that Obama attended (at the White House), and a few more with variosu GOP house and senate members.  By late morning on Friday, he had decided to leave for Mississippi to attend the debate after all, the one he had cancelled for the sake of a nation, after little more than a few hours of contact with GOP members.  He never once talked to a Democrat except at the White House meeting from what I have read, and he said little at the White House meeting -- but he did indulge the GOP House Caucuses' weird tax cut, private government backed insurance and deregulation plan that Paulsen said would not work.

4.  Obama attended the White House meeting also.  He also was integral, four days earlier, putting his imprint in conjunction with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, on the 5-part Democratic plan to improve the Paulsen blank check plan -- adding oversight and judicial review, taxpayer buy-in and pay-back in the form of equity in companies whose loans were bought, and thus protection of taxpayer investment, more limited spending authority (with congressional approval required to exceed $250 Million and up to $100 Million capable of being pulled back), no golden parachutes to be paid for with tax dollars (weakened thanks to Paulson/Bush and the GOP), and provision for bankruptcy relief for struggling homeowners facing foreclosure (which the Democratic negotiators ultimately dropped to make the legislation palatible to Republicans) -- all features that were missing from the Paulsen Plan (which McCain had not even read by that point) a plan which represented Bush executive abuse at its worst. But Obama did NOT inject himself conspicuously into the process but to do it behind the scense, because his judgment was to try to de-politicize it.  He did call in constantly during the week with Paulson, Dodd, Frank, Reid and Pelosi -- not the center of attention, but by no means being passive either.  McCain actually suggested that Obama;s unwillingness to suspend his campaign and cancel the debate was political and the standing on the sidelines while others (i.e., McCain) led.   Obama was not being a big enough prima donna to satisfy McCain.

5.  Many pundits thought that McCain had in fact politicized things at the White House meeting by indulging the GOP House caucus, which was by then making serious noises like they were going to stick Democrats with approving this Bush administration fiasco and then run against them over it, clearly seeing their own political survival as paramount over McCain's need to be the White Knight who would sacrifice his most prized possession -- the presidency -- to secure support for the emergency legislation.  Others thought McCain and his Rovian strategists (or, more aptly, tacticians) were concocting a set up, in effect orchestrating what appeared to be a bigger problem than there really was, and then having Sir John twist arms to bring enough if the recalcitrant GOP members to the table to vote yes, and then claim credit for saving the nation in "selfless" devotion to Country First -- you can't script this stuff! Literally! 

6.  Then, sensing that his campaign suspension stunt was backfiring a little, McCain changed his mind and attended the debate after all (which did not go as well as he needed it to go, owing to his personality disorder, which is somewhere between PTSD, a generalized anger disorder or simply being a pure dick).  Post debate polls showed a statistically significant bounce for Obama, especially from independents.  And while much of that may be due to the drama queen act McCain was gambling on, and that looked contrived, it nevertheless set the stage for an even higher stakes Mccain campaign tactic on Monday morning.

7.  But first, Mccain then returned to DC after the debate, but according to numerous reports, he never actually left Arlington VA to come up to the Hill (where senior members were hacking out a difficult and painful deal that they all hated, but felt duty bound to pursue).  He and Cindy had dinner with the Liebermans at CityZen, an Asian Fusion Goumet Restaurant that is one of DC;s best, and most expensive, restaurants.  In the meantime, Barney Frank and 10-20 others were eating pizza and working for hours on end to get this done,  Barney Frank is one of the real heroes here, taking on an exceptionally difficult effort to take the 3 pafe pile of crap Paulson had brought to the Congress for approval, and making it halfway livable.  And at the same time, McCain (who was literally doing nothing) pretended that he was handling this crisis in a proactive way that demonstrated his leadership (and Obama's nadequaciy).  It turns out that this crisis, which supposedly compelled him to suspend his campaign, could be handled from his cell phone in an office at his campaign HQ (and from his penthouse condo) in Arlington VA -- "phoning it in" after all, after accusing Obama of being inadequate for merely phoning it in (instead of rushing to DC to follow his leadership).  Who knows, maybe seeing the Capitol Building from his hi-rise penthouse condo in Arlington gave him new insight into government regulation of the financial markets, like Palin's view of Russia from Alaska gives her foreign policy insights. 

8.  Then McCain left town -- before the vote on Monday -- to campaign in a swing state, claiming not only a victory for the nation's wellbeing, but a personal victory, a triumph of leadership.  He claimed leadership while asserting that Obama merely stood on the sidelines.  He touted his central role in delivering a bipartisan accord to address this emergency national crisis (and had several campaign surrogates making variations of the same boast -- all  variations on "Thank God for John McCain" -- on every cable network).  Except thsi time he celebrated the touchdown before actually getting into the end zone.  It's a bitch, celebrating too soon in a conspicuous way and then dropping the ball.  So when the GOP failed to deliver the 80 measly votes they promised -- less than 1/2 of their caucus (of which only 1/3 of the GOP members supported the emergency legislation, and McCain's high profile position) -- he was humiliated.  His own party stabbed him in the back.  The Democrats, by contrast, delivered 140 votes, which is over 60% support in a delegation that hated giving any quarter to Hank Paulson and George W. Bush, but did so for the sake of addressing a credit crunch that threatened to crush an already weakened economy.  It was supposed to be a bipartisan majority (where both parites had members opposed to the bailout who would  vote no).  Boehner promised 80 votes, and they scheduled the vote.   And they fell well short, and it failed.  And here is the most damning fact of all:  not one member of the Arizona GOP delegation -- McCain's home delegation -- voted in favor of the emergency legislation.  So much for Sir John, the White Knight. 

9.  So what did McCain do, now that he was trapped?  What else?  Cantor and Boehner and then McCain's chief advisors blamed a floor speech by Nancy Pelosi as the reason why a dozen GOP members pussied out and threw a temper tantrum and voted down a bill that upon which McCain's election was now completely dependent, and in doing so brought about a $1.2 Trillion loss of market value in a single day.  A lot of people saw their retirement plans get crushed yesterday,  They should think about that when they vote for Congress and for President this year.   Reckless John, the Maverick, had singlehandedly landed credit for fumbling a bailout that gave rise to an immediate $1.2 Trillion loss of value in the stock market.  The price of McCain's recklessness. 

10.  To make matters worse, McCain then had the chutzpah to blame Obama personally out of one side of his mouth while saying that we should not fix blame, we should solve the problem, out of the other side of his mouth.  I'm not sure when he found time to accompany Sarah Palin back onto Katie Couric's news show for even more humiliation.

11.  In the meantime, Obama, in his only public appearance today, sought to assure and calm  people down.  He implored them not to panic, pointed out that things get rocky sometime in Congress, and that it could still be worked out,.  And then he set back to work on solving the problem, again, outside the spotlight, without calling undue attention to his role in the process.  

12.  Just watch -- he will lead the Dems to pass a more modest bailout ($150 Billion, revisit in January) along the lines suggested by former Labor Secretary and Brandeis economics professor, Robert Reich on Monday, that will pass later this week, without the self-important fanfare that McCain could not resist -- the boasting and the self-congratulations, that ended with McCain's national humiliation.

OK, #12 hasn't happened yet, and it may never haoppen, but #1 - #11 have happened, and what they show is that there is one candidate who is without doubt unqualified temperamentally to serve as President.  A McCain presidency would be exhausting and corrosive to the US and our allies.  He is borderline delusional (mostly delusions of grandeur), in my opinion.  Not just a dick who has chosen to be guided by the biggest dicks in the business of politics, but unhinged, reckless, erratic, and ultimately dangerous.  He has terrible instincts -- see, e.g. Palin. Drama Queen, celebrate before victory, etc. -- and he is a reckless gambler, whose gambles (like this one) are thrilling in some very superficial way, but more often dangerous and exhausting to those he puts through the ringer, who have to live with the consequences of his bad bets. 

This is not about at all about any failure to lead by Obama, no matter what McCain's campaign babbles on TV.  No, this is "The John McCain Show" -- and if anybody votes for him, they'd better be prepared for a lot of this crap, because he clearly can't help himself when he wanders off the ranch like he has this past week.  I just hope my brain doesn't explode before  the next episode plays out.

I wrote the following comment in response to a blog entry sarcastically suggesting that Bill Clinton is officially campaigning for McCain now.  I don't think it's true, but I think there is a brader point Clinton himself has been making that we really need to come to grips with, and why we need to stop overreacting to some perceived sleight to Obama that seems to be coming from Bill Clinton:

If you look at his interview on The Daily Show a few nights ago (available on their website), it is crystal clear that Clinton wants Obama to win. I will grant you, there is this Clintonian way (maybe, more accurately, a Clinton-centric way) that he says it. But look at the end of the second part of that interview, and Jon Stewart's reaction to it -- there is no question whose side the Clintons are on in this election - Obama's.  And they know, as well as most of us do deep down inside -- even if we can't believe it -- that Obama is going to win in a "not nearly as close as some have been thinking" election, because you don't get to preside over 7 years of financial problems capped by a near total financial collapse and taxpayer bailout, and also behave as McCain has done recently (especially since he launched his dishonest negative mid-summer television campaign, then the Palin selection, then the bailout drama queen stunt, and now the angry, bullying and ultimately small debate performance, which clearly evidences his temperament problem for 57+ Million viewers, including especially independents) and still win. The GOP is toast, from top to bottom. Clinton is no fool - the writing is on the wall, and the polls that are now swinging dramatically in Obama's direction don't even come close to reflecting the Democrats' enthusiasm, registration and ground game advantages, which are huge.

So let's stop overreacting and making things up, like this ridiculous notion that Clinton wants McCain to win. It feeds a false narrative that we need to stop. Clinton is trying to attract the unconverted -- the voters who don't already want to vote for Obama. Havng him be more overtly partisan in his attacks on McCain does little or nothing to accomplish that objective. As he pointed out on Meet the Press, he is seeking to appeal to people who are not as antagonistic towards McCain as we are, but who like a lot of what Obama has to say, but don't fully trust him (or understand that McCain is, from a policy perspective, a continuation of the same bad government, favor the rich, approach they are hurting from now).

Don't mistake his Clintonian way of expressing himself on the mainstream media -- which is aimed at those voter -- with the true substance of what he is saying unreservedly, which is that the Republicans MUST be defeated in 2008, from top to bottom. Whether he likes or loves Obama is quite beside the point -- to Clinton, he is more than good enough and if Bill wants to credit Hillary for that (which is not entirely unfair -- her campaign sharpened Obama's skills considerably), so be it. As Obama says, it is amazing what you can accomplish if you don't care about who gets the credit. So instead of accusing Clinton for seeming not to want to go far enough to support Obama, let's credit both Hillary and Bill  for their extraordinary contributions to the campaign, and for doing anything they do to help. Keep the focus on winning, not who gets the credit.