Sen. John McCain has suspended his campaign so that he can return to Washington and help broker a legislative solution to the current financial crisis. The impulse that led him to do this is altogether commendable. During his long career in Congress, McCain has often has been instrumental in untying difficult legislative knots.
But why couple this commendable act with a call to postpone the first debate on Friday night? Understand: Postponement really means cancellation — readers of this blog’s posts on the preparations at the University of Mississippi will know that too much has been done to lay the groundwork for this debate at this day and time to reverse course now. If McCain wants to legislate all day Thursday and then get back at it on Saturday, that’s fine. But he’s the presidential nominee of a major political party, with duties that transcend being a senator. One of those duties is to participate in those rituals of democracy that remind us that through all of history our electoral system has never missed a beat, not from wars, riots, or depressions, much less hiccups in the legislative process.
