The post is so blisteringly delicious, it's difficult to excerpt and do it justice. Read it. But here's a small tease:
Barack Obama was at the White House yesterday, looking presidential.
Maybe you remember "presidential." You know: smart, calm, patriotic.
Obama knew, going in, that it was a Republican setup. And that George W was just trying to help his sidekick, John McCain, to a third Bush term.
But when your country is in a fix and the president asks for your help, if you're a patriot you show up. You make the best of an awkward political situation. You do your homework. You ask relevant questions. You participate.
As opposed to, say, McCain.
Given the Republican nominee's untethered (there's that word again) performance in the last three weeks, during which he has swung wildly from Oblivious to Panicky by way of Blurt and Bluster, McCain's performance comes as no surprise.
But it is still instructive to review McCain's actions in the last two days, to see why the notion of him as president is now alarming even some Republicans....
McCain finally arrived in the capital yesterday afternoon. Almost immediately, he discovered that the bailout deal (the one that he hoped to swoop in and seize credit for) was falling apart because of Republican opposition.
Did McCain roll up his sleeves and put his magical maverick bipartisan skills to work? Did he help get the members of his own party on board? Build a bridge or two across the aisle? Stick it to the Wall Street greedheads, as he had promised, by capping the money they can make in this bailout?
No. McCain closeted himself with his advisers and tried to find a way to salvage his rapidly deteriorating political position.
Then it was time for the White House photo op, which McCain had so coveted. And what does Mr. Suspend My Campaign for the Good of the Country do?
He goes AWOL.
