I don't know which is more distressing - watching the economy crumble or watching the Phillies limp toward the playoffs. Both situations are currently causing me a lot of anxiety.
Let's start with the Phillies. They were hot. Now? Not so much. Losing two straight to the Braves with the most recent loss being tagged on Brett Myers. What happened to him?!? He was practically unhittable since coming back from the minors. Now, he can't get anybody out! Good thing the Mets aren't doing much better. Otherwise, the Phillies would be in real trouble. I still think they'll make the playoffs, but, jeez, they can't make it easy, can they?
Now for this economy thing. The proposed $700 billion bailout plan. Earlier tonight, Bush took off his rose-colored glasses long enough to predict disaster if Congress doesn't send a bill to his desk, like, yesterday. Supposedly, Bush has been considering making a speech like this for the past several weeks. I guess he wanted to see how low things would go before he took action. Whatever. No one wants to listen to him now. He is the lamest of the lame ducks.
Which brings me to Obama and McCain. Obama, on one hand, says he is perfectly capable of multi-tasking, as a president might have to do sometimes. He plans to campaign, debate on Friday, and still help with the bailout plan.
On the other hand, McCain, who HAS SAID that the economy is not his best subject, is suspending his campaign to focus on the economy! He's going to go back to Washington and lend his economic experience, limited though it may be, to the efforts to finalize the bailout package that Bush says we need ASAP.
Good move on McCain's part? We'll see, I guess. But, I have to wonder why, just 40 days before the election, a presidential candidate would stop spending money on ads, stop raising money for future ads, and suggest delaying a debate that he could use to, in this time of crisis, convince people that he really does know about the economy. Why? Well, I can think of one or two reasons. And, showing off economic expertise isn't one of them.