Opinion: McCain correct in choosing governing over campaigning

Ocotober 01, 2008
Andrew Thomason
Staff Writer

John McCain has suspended his presidential campaign, saying he is going to return to Washington D.C. to focus on the financial crisis.

In an article in the Sept. 24 edition of the the State Journal-Register, UIS Professor Kent Redfield said this most likely a political move rather than a genuine care about the issue.

“It’s not like we’re talking about a hurricane,” Redfield said. “We’re talking about something that was created by political action. The irony is you have a political ploy from the McCain camp to show he’s above politics.”

Regardless of his motive, this is the right thing for McCain to do. He, as well as Barack Obama, are senators first, and presidential candidates second, a fact most people seem to forget. Both have, for the most part, forsaken the duties of the office for at least year while campaigning.

Governing is different from campaigning, vastly different. There is no person to attack with ads. There are no extraordinary promises one can make and not follow through with action. So the more experience in governing, such as through the Senate, the better.

One reason Obama gave for not following McCain’s example, was that “It's going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once.” While there are some strands of truth in this statement, it doesn’t really apply to this situation. When a crisis the size of our current situation happens, a president should only focus on that.  

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, does Obama think Kennedy was also looking at the state of highways and taxes in America? Doubtful. And would the nation want the president to be considering such things during a time of crisis? Would it not make more sense to have America’s number one decision maker to be focusing on the major problem of the day?

Will McCain being in Washington D.C. change the outcome of economic bailout plan? The answer to that question is most likely a no. But, because he is there, the citizens of Arizona will have their full voice heard. He will be able to explain their wishes to the Senate, something of which we in Illinois will only get half.

Is McCain’s suspension of his presidential campaign a political ploy or pure patriotism? Who cares, the fact is he is staying true to the office he was originally elected for, an office that it seems Obama simply used as a springboard to obtain the next level.