McCain Delays Obama Debate to Focus on National Crisis

Two days after the two presidential candidates sat down privately to talk about joining forces to help address the sliding markets on Wall Street, John McCain has announced that he will put his presidential campaign on hold while he devotes his full attention to the economy.

According to the Obama campaign, their candidate was the one who suggested the meeting with McCain, but McCain was the first candidate to announce that the campaign should take a backseat to addressing the nation’s financial crisis. McCain has asked Obama to join him in putting politics aside temporarily, but Obama’s camp did not say whether he was also going to stop campaigning for the time being until the crisis is resolved.

Obama’s campaign issued a statement Wednesday saying that Obama had called McCain to propose issuing a joint statement supporting a package to help fix the economy as soon as possible. The statement said that six hours later McCain called back and agreed to the idea of supporting an economic recovery package, but McCain wanted to issue his own statement.

"We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved," McCain said. "I am confident that before the markets open on Monday we can achieve consensus on legislation that will stabilize our financial markets, protect taxpayers and homeowners, and earn the confidence of the American people. All we must do to achieve this is temporarily set politics aside, and I am committed to doing so."

McCain also suggested that President Bush convene a leadership meeting in Washington to focus on the nation’s financial problems. He added that the administration’s plan seems headed for defeat and there is an urgent need for a bipartisan solution. He said that if Congress does not pass appropriate legislation quickly, people will no longer be able to purchase homes, credit will evaporate, businesses will run out of money, and life savings will be at stake. "If we do not act, every corner of our country will be impacted," McCain said. "We cannot allow this to happen."

McCain also canceled a planned appearance on Wednesday’s "Late Show with David Letterman."