John McCain suspended his campaign today and went back to Washington to work with the Senate on the economic crisis we are facing. Read his message to the country below.

John McCain

John McCain’s Remarks on the Economic Crisis
New York, NY
Wednesday, September 24, 2008

America this week faces an historic crisis in our financial system. We must pass legislation to address this crisis. If we do not, credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake. Businesses will not have enough money to pay their employees. If we do not act, ever corner of our country will be impacted. We cannot allow this to happen.

Last Friday, I laid out my proposal and I have since discussed my priorities and concerns with the bill the Administration has put forward. Senator Obama has expressed his priorities and concerns. This morning, I met with a group of economic advisers to talk about the proposal on the table and the steps that we should take going forward. I have also spoken with members of Congress to hear their perspective.

It has become clear that no consensus has developed to support the Administration’s proposal. I do not believe that the plan on the table will pass as it currently stands, and we are running out of time.

Tomorrow morning, I will suspend my campaign and return to Washington after speaking at the Clinton Global Initiative. I have spoken to Senator Obama and informed him of my decision and have asked him to join me.

I am calling on the President to convene a meeting with the leadership from both houses of Congress, including Senator Obama and myself. It is time for both parties to come together to solve this problem.

We must meet as Americans, not as Democrats or Republicans, and we must meet until this crisis is resolved. I am directing my campaign to work with the Obama campaign and the commission on presidential debates to delay Friday night’s debate until we have taken action to address this crisis.

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.

Following September 11th, our national leaders came together at a time of crisis. We must show that kind of patriotism now. Americans across our country lament the fact that partisan divisions in Washington have prevented us from addressing our national challenges. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country.

Meanwhile, Obama waited several hours before he announced that this was all his idea to begin with and he didn’t THINK he’d suspend his campaign because the American people need to see them and hear them. As IF we haven’t seen and heard Obama every time we turn our televisions on for the past two years. He whined a while about how McCain hadn’t called him back until the afternoon and then made his announcement and headed back to Washington while Obama was doing other things. Hrumpt!

I imagine that there were several hundred advisers in an auditorium somewhere in an intimate meeting with Obama during those hours trying to figure out how to make it look like HE was the decisive one and HE was the leader. So their idea, apparently, was for him to let everyone know that it was his idea yet he wasn’t going to do it.

Then, to make matters ever worse, the indecisive Obama the President called him and told him to get his hiney back to Washington and actually do some work. (He THINKS he’ll go on with his campaign even though he’s being paid to be a Senator. I worry that he might not know the directions to the Senate - that could be the problem).

The thing that seemed obvious to me today is that the Republicans are already looking to McCain for leadership and he took the leadership role. Obama sent a message that if they needed him to let him know - apparently no one did. However, at this point, they are both the leaders of their respective parties. And they can’t vote on something if they are actually physically present at the Senate. A surrogate can’t do that for them. Obama may not have known that since he hasn’t been there much.

Now, he has to follow McCain to Washington like a puppy after trying to assert himself as a leader in the most pathetic way. His spokespeople are all over the television saying what a courageous decision he made to get in front of the people instead of going back to Washington to do his job during a crisis. They are saying he showed real leadership. And now they are saying that he is showing bipartisanship by going to Washington when the President called him.

The man is pathetic.

McCain is the man.