McCain suspends McCampaign

My first reaction on hearing this news was that it would be dismissed as a political stunt. On second thought, that might be an overly cynical view.

The fact is, it really makes little sense for the whole political establishment, the media, and the public at large to be focusing on a foreign policy debate at a time when serious decisions need to be made regarding the health of the economy. The public interest would be better served by taking the election campaigns off the agenda for a few days while lawmakers decide what to do. Therefore, putting aside the political ramifications, McCain's announcement makes a great deal of sense.

Because the idea of suspending the campaign has obvious civic merit, I don't think it will be all that easy to dismiss the move as a political stunt. That's especially true if Big Mac can actually insinuate himself into the middle of the negotiations and help midwife a deal to resolve the crisis. In that case, it will appear that it was necessary for him to get off the campaign trail in order to attend to more important work in Washington. If he does that, and the resulting plan appears to resolve the immediate crisis, he's going to come out way ahead on this.

Arguably, McCain's fortunes depend entirely on whether he can "reach across the aisle" and help put together a package to defuse the crisis. As I said, if he does that, then suspending the campaign will obviously appear to be a wise move. If he can't -- either because no deal is forthcoming or his involvement in producing it appears superfluous -- then suspending the campaign may look like needless grandstanding.