McCain right. Me wrong.

Okay, I really need to hold to a hard-and-fast rule that I sometimes forget, which is to not write while I’m emoting; to get away from the desk and go think for a while before writing. I wrote a lot yesterday; much too much. Lesson learned.

On the bailout itself? I’m undecided and a little concerned.

Yesterday I wrote that McCain’s suspending the campaign was a dumb move, that it might be noble, but it was politically stupid.

The danger of focusing too much on politics, of course, is that you start seeing everything through a purely political lens. Bloggers do it; the press does it. With few exceptions, our elected leadership does it. It’s a poisonous way to view things, a perspective that has created the largely stalled, hyperpartisan congress, and that allowed the heinous treatment of Sarah Palin within hours of her coming into the national scene. I succumbed to it yesterday. Chesterton tells us that we lose our perspective when we are in the middle of riding a great beast, because we can no longer describe it or see where it begins or ends. He’s quite right. So is John McCain, here, when he says:

“It is time for everyone to recall that the political process is not an end in itself, nor is it intended to serve those of us who are in the middle of it,”

He’s right and – not that it matters, since I’m a nobody, but I’ll say it anyway; I was wrong. I’ve come to the conclusion that Senator McCain was correct, mature and statesmanlike to suspend his campaign, put off the debate and head to Washington, to do the job he’s been elected to do in a time of crisis. Moreover, it does make a lot of sense that McCain was called to help lead in this time, because no one else in Congress or the Senate has what he has: the balls to take ownership of something.

Speaker Pelosi, would not “jump” without the GOP. The GOP, partly on principal and partly because they didn’t want to be exploited for “cover” didn’t want to move. Meanwhile, people were wondering about runs on banks.

And Obama – aloof as ever – wanted to simply go on campaigning, said “yeah, call me if you need me,” implying that he was not needed, and it took a call from the president to get him off the campaign trail.

This re-inforced two things for me about Obama; he does not know how to govern, only how to campaign, and maybe he really doesn’t want this job. I know I’m not alone in suspecting that he never thought his ’08 run would land him any higher than the veep slot. Perhaps he feels like it’s safer on the campaign trail, with an adoring press working for him, than in Washington – where he is expected to actually lead his party.

All in all, none of this has strengthened my faith in the thoroughly dishonest and self-interested the rubes and clowns in Washington. I think less of myself, of course, for jumping too fast, but I also think less of Obama, less of Pelosi, less of Harry Reid, which I didn’t think was possible, and I think better of John McCain. Jennifer Rubin is quite right in this piece. I did not understand; John McCain really is what he’s been all along – a guy who’ll throw his own interests into the wind, to serve the country, first.

One last note, from Ed Morrissey on Harry Reid’s flip-flop on McCain, from “we need him,” to “don’t bother coming back to DC”. It’s a beaut.

Here’s the video from yesterday of Reid demanding leadership from McCain:

“We need, now, the Republicans to start producing some votes for us. We need the Republican nominee for president to let us know where he stands and what we should do.” [emphasis mine – admin]

Writes Morrissey: Notice that Reid never demanded leadership from the Democratic nominee for President. I guess he already knows that would be a futile request. [emph. mine again -admin]

Okay. I’m on board for McCain, who has clearly gone all in. Finally and really.