Sen. Obama? Don't Fall For It!

Don’t do it, Sen. Obama. Just don’t. Do NOT fall for McCain’s proposed campaign suspension so he can “work” on t he economy. Do NOT allow the debate for Friday night to be canceled.

I have to admit, I am impressed by this move. McCain, after absorbing heavy, thudding body blows day after day on the economy has finally decided that the best thing he can possibly do is stop playing the game where he is getting his ass kicked. If your nose keeps getting bloodied and you can’t throw a punch, why don’t you just quit fighting? Then, if the other guy decides that he wants to keep up the barrage, you can claim to be better than him, above it all and accuse him of playing dirty when your efforts are focused on nobler things.

I understand the move by McCain and I understand the appeal, however forced it may be, to the Obama campaign. It will be tough to accuse John McCain of playing politics and trying to demagogue the issue when he says his efforts are focused on making an ugly situation better.

Be that as it may, you can’t let up. McCain has already shown, on September 11th of this year, that his definition of “suspending” his campaign doesn’t read exactly according to Webster’s. You cannot trust his campaign to truly “go dark” and he will keep running ads and keep trying to attack you. You must not forget that this is all a huge effort to distract the American public from the fact that his economic policies and ideas are trash and that his own campaign is absolutely rife with people peddling influence to special interests that have put this economy where it is.

The trick for you will be to finesse the issue without looking like you are playing politics. Maybe you can say “Senator McCain has asked that we suspend our campaigns while we work on cleaning up this economic disaster he helped create. I applaud Senator McCain for finally owning up to his responsibilities and trying to make things right. But Sen. McCain doesn’t want to change anything, he wants to withdraw because this is an issue where he cannot win. If Senator McCain is serious about helping this economy, then why doesn’t he actually talk about his plans, about he value of deregulation and about the role his policies and advisors (and mine) have played in this crisis? I will not agree to cancel this debate but what I will agree to do is change the focus from national security to employment and the economy. The best thing we can do, as candidates for the presidency, is to tell the American people how we will govern if we are elected President. This crisis was caused, in large part, by a lack of transparency in our government and in the operation of our financial institutions. If Senator McCain truly wants to reform the way Washington works and seriously change the culture of Wall Street, I invite him to meet with me Friday night for a debate on the economy. I will work with the Senate in Washington to help fix this turmoil but Senator McCain’s proposed response, to bury his head in the sand, is not a show of leadership, it is a display of cowardice.

Even if McCain unilaterally refuses to be at the debate Friday night, you cannot agree to “suspension” of the campaign. You must keep the pressure on McCain, even if he stops campaigning. Remember when John Kerry refused to respond to the Swift Boat ads? Put McCain in that same box and see how he likes it.

Don’t stop. Don’t let up. Don’t slow down. You can sleep all you want November 5th.