McCain's Master Stroke (UPDATE)

When I first heard the news earlier today that there was an agreement in place for bipartisan support of the massive Wall Street bailout, I initially thought that John McCain had overreached in suspending his campaign. After all, he comes back to D.C. and yet the bill is largely hammered out without him. Then comes word from Richard Shelby and House Republicans that they aren't on board with this agreement. Now, I think that McCain read the situation correctly when he proclaimed that the bill wouldn't pass in its current form.

Here is the latest from both candidate. Both candidates have met with the President. Here is what Obama briefly said.

I'm going to tell him we're going to have to get something done," Obama said. "And that it has to include something for Main Street, not just Wall Street."

Here is the score. Obama will do a press conference and then his entire contribution to this process will be over. He will go back to prepping for the debate and he will watch the rest from the sidelines. Meanwhile, despite what some have reported, the legislature is nowhere near reaching an agreement. In fact, many Republicans are diametrically opposed to the bailout entirely.

On the other hand, there will be a deal in place by Monday morning. There has to be a deal because there will literally be a financial meltdown if there isn't. These financial services companies deeply leveraged in these Mortgage Backed Securities. Without a deal, there will soon be a meltdown.

What will happen now is down and dirty politicking, horse trading and legislating. John McCain will be in the middle of all of it and Barack Obama will be watching all of it. Because he is the Presidential candidate, he is the de facto leader of the Republican party. That means that he is in a leadership position in all of these negotiations. As lawmakers update the media, his name will be mentioned in most every important meeting that is taking place all around the Capitol.

It's unlikely a deal will be reached tonight, and if it is, it won't be until much later this evening. It may not even be reached tomorrow. It may take until the weekend for a deal to be reached. Meanwhile, as updates come in, McCain's name will be prominently mentioned in each and every meeting.

If Obama insists on going forward with the debate, then McCain should insist on another master stroke. He should send Sarah Palin to debate Obama. She can make it clear that John McCain is involved in serious negotiations trying to hammer out an agreement to save our financial system. If Obama insists on debating, it will have to be with her. In that case, either way Obama loses.

Finally, once an agreement is reached it will be John McCain that will figure prominently in ironing it out. Keep in mind that most every single important piece of legislative business over the last decade has had McCain's fingerprints on it. He will look like the dutiful statesman while Obama looks like the talker. Furthermore, since he will be working nearly non stop for several days it will even put to rest any fears that he is too old to serve. McCain took a big gamble in suspending his campaign. It's not his first big political gamble. He gambled on the surge and won. He gambled on comprehensive immigration reform and lost. McCain is not afraid to put his political career on the line for a bold move, and this time it, in my opinion, will lead him right into the White House.

UPDATE:

McCain will attend the debate.

While I would have found the political theater of having Palin show up in his place just too delicious, the larger point of this move remains the same. The Republicans, I believe, will offer an alternative. It will be an alternative that the public will take to much more than the bailout, and it will pass. This will give McCain a huge victory.