John McCain's White Horse

With some minor exceptions media pundits tended to play down the importance of McCain's ride to Washington and try to portray it as grandstanding and politicizing the situation. On Tuesday Senate Leader Harry Reid said the bill would not pass unless McCain provided support. On Wednesday, when McCain said he would return to the Capital to work on the bill Reid said he would just get in the way. On Thursday, the Democrats called a news conference to say they had a bill and McCain's efforts would not be helpful. However, in truth there was no deal and it became clear all too quickly. McCain arrived; the President called Obama to the White House, and once everyone was in the same room the truth emerged. There was no deal. House Republicans were not included in the discussion and the bill did not have enough Republican support in the Senate to survive a cloture vote. One thing is clear. The Democrats could have passed this bill without the House Republicans, but quite frankly, they didn't and still don't have the guts. Even as late as tonight the Speaker of the House is saying she must have a substantial number of House Republicans on board or else. Why you may ask? It's because despite the necessity of this bill the public's perception of it is piss poor and no one, it seems, has really made an effort to explain it. I will probably continue with the fine points of the bill for most of the week, but I want to return to McCain's white horse. Despite the way McCain's efforts were slammed by a liberal-leaning press, his effort to force the Democrats to include the House Republicans in the discussion was very successful and has given the American people an opportunity to see this bill in its entirety on the internet. Conservative Republicans have much angst with the bill, Democrats do as well. There is every indication that the bill will work in so far as the market is concerned if the Congress would stop fooling around and pass it. McCain’s foray forced this bill into the light. A place it would not have ever seen if left to the Administration or the Democrats.