Obama's First and Only Misstep

The bailout-that-need-not-happen has fooled our friend BO, I think. According to the McCain people, not only did Obama take the bait set out by McCain -- and he had no choice, as Bush commanded the presence of both candidates in Washington and there was no way Obama could have then said, "see ya!" and gone back on the campaign trail. Instead, he apparently stuck around all day and actually let his own party make him the focus of the discussions, while McCain sat in the back, said nothing, and took no position. The result? Republicans, who had been planning all along to ditch the bailout at the last minute, both to strike at Bush and also to get some of their own pork included in a revised proposal, ditched the bailout at the last minute and also, simultaneously, caught Obama looking like a fool.

Obama took the bait this time. Let it be the last time.

The good news for him is that there is no "winner" here. Most of the public doesn't like the bailout idea. But, somehow, McCain also isn't getting much traction with his "Obama scuttled everything!" line (it's almost like...like...he's lost all credibility) and God bless Barney Frank for coming out swinging all day today.

Obama has the debate tomorrow and he should succeed in taking all the positives McCain has left and turning them into question marks, if not glaring negatives.

If Obama wimps out, though, and tries to do some kind of pussy "teleconference" thing for the debate, that will be his second mistake.