Economic Crisis Wednesday

As fast and as weirdly as things moved on Wednesday, Thursday's events could move even faster.

Wednesday began with a morning phone call from Barack Obama to John McCain, requesting that they issue a joint statement of principles they both believe should be in the bail-out package Congress is considering. A reasonable request, since they both had talked about an oversight board, reigning in CEO pay and helping homeowners avoid foreclosures.

But McCain didn't take the call and didn't return it until mid afternoon. Shortly after agreeing to the statement (which when it was finally issued didn't say much at all, although Obama appended his own five point substantive set of principles), McCain unilaterally announced he was suspending his campaign to go to Washington Thursday and work on the crisis proposal, and further, he requested that Friday's presidential debate be cancelled. McCain admitted Tuesday that he had not read the 2 1/2 page administration proposal. Obama has been talking to the principals in the discussions every day.

Obama said the debate should go on as scheduled, saying "It is my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who, in approximately 40 days, will be responsible for dealing with this mess,” Mr. Obama said. “It is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once.”

Then the debate commission announced that the debate would go on as scheduled, and the McCain campaign let it be known that if the economic crisis bill isn't set by Friday, McCain will not participate in the debate. (A Survey USA flash poll showed that only 10% of those polled thought the debate should be cancelled.)

Then President Bush invited both McCain and Obama to the White House Thursday for a meeting with congressional leaders to discuss the crisis proposal. Obama accepted, and presumably McCain will also be there.

Then at 9pm, President Bush addressed the nation on the crisis. His explanation for how it got so bad seemed to blame citizens more than Wall Street or the failures of government regulators, but his statement on the bail-out plan did include several provisions Democrats and some Republicans have been insisting be part of it.

Meanwhile, while all of this highly visible drama was going on, those negotiating the actual bail-out package were getting closer to agreement. Eventually Dem Congressman Barney Frank announced the deal was all but done, and though he's been on the optimistic side before, several reporters confirmed this.

So what may very well happen Thursday is a meeting which crosses the ts and dots the i's at the White House in the morning, with a done deal shortly thereafter. It might even be passed tomorrow or Friday, in plenty of time for the debate.

But it might take a day or two longer, and that's when things get crazy again. Lawrence O'Donnell on the Rachel Maddow show pointed out that McCain has no reason to go to Washington because he has no function in these negotiations--he's not a member of any of the relevant committees trying to hammer out the deal, and he doesn't have all that much political pull with the House Republicans who seem to be the biggest barrier to an agreement. O'Donnell sees this as presidential politics mucking up the process--which is precisely why Obama wasn't in Washington. Bush's invitation to both candidates gives McCain cover--something to go to, where he can look like he's involved. But apart from that, he has no function there.

O'Donnell thinks a deal is a few days away. So if it isn't concluded by Friday afternoon, what happens to the debate? No candidate has ever refused to participate in a debate previously agreed to, for any reason, not even sitting presidents. Barney Frank called this the most Hail Mary Hail Mary pass in the history of football, and Marys. This one may have already hit the turf.