The McCain Gambit

Senator McCain tried to reinforce the issue of attention to duty by claiming that the candidates should postpone their first debate until the credit crisis package is completed.

There are a couple of possible explanations of this thinking. But none of them is especially persuasive.

Ultimately, both candidate's role in trying to resolve this issue is likely to be minor - although both have a responsibility to make their position on the issues surrounding the sub-prime crisis clear.

I am not sure that the stylized discussions that we've had so far that the media calls debates actually are helpful in determining who will lead the country with the most skill. They include a lot of style points and not much substance. And I would favor having more open forums like McCain proposed. But that is not the game. I suspect McCain's strategy on this will not pay off.