McCain trys to delay first debate; Obama doesn't bite

Early this afternoon, McCain pledged to pause his campaigning in order to return to Washington and compose a bailout package for the current economic emergency. Included in the statement, McCain sought to postpone the debate that is supposed to take place on Friday regarding foreign policy, although the Obama team did not agree to that and has issued a statement saying that "The debate is on," according to ABC News.

NYT
ABC

What do you think the general reaction will be to this? I think that what Rahm Emanuel said, that "we can handle both," is smart because I would expect a President to handle both an economic and international crisis simultaneously, if the situation ever arose. If Obama had reacted differently and agreed with McCain, would this be a battle won for the McCain camp?

Agenda already set for next president?

This MSNBC article hints that, despite the grand rhetoric of reform and change from both presidential candidates, the current administration's policies (and their subsequent fallout) preclude any large-scale transformations of American society in the near future.

Fineman writes:
"The next president’s foreign policy and defense script has long since been written. To simplify only slightly, it consists of winding down Iraq, declawing Iran and Hugo Chavez, and keeping Russia calm.

And now, after a scary and tumultuous fortnight of economic woes and corporate bailouts, his domestic narrative has also been outlined. And global credit markets, the Bush administration and Congress are holding the pen."

So will there be a "shrinking" of executive authority, since the president's economic power will be limited by the expanded power of the bureaucracies and Congress? Fineman says that this is supposedly the first time in history when the expansion of one president's authority has bound another president's hands to follow the same policies. I don't know if that's true, but he yearns for "another Lincoln or FDR" in the nation's time of need. Maybe expansive presidencies are viewed more positively in hindsight?

Roosevelt & Roosevelt

In response to Matt's question yesterday, I checked out the "midnight forests" proclamation (Milkis & Nelson 220). The legal authority came from an earlier law, not the Antiquities Act.

See here for information on how Clinton and other presidents used the Antiquities Act.

See here for information on how President Bartlet used the Antiquities Act.

I do not mean to pick on Joe Biden, but spot the mistakes in the following comment: "When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the princes of greed. He said, 'look, here's what happened."

Assassination Attempt:



FDR inauguration:




Ike Farewell:

Early 20th Century Presidents

Text and short video on Woodrow Wilson's stroke.

Political scientist Wilson reflects on the presidency.

The underrated Calvin Coolidge made the first presidential speech on sound film:

Transition

From the NY Times:

Though they hate to discuss it, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama are quietly planning what to do in the frenetic 77-day period from the presidential election to Inauguration Day, so they will be ready to take up the reins of government.

Click here for the rest of the article.

There is even a transition blog.

Bill Maher and the War on Terror

3 minutes worth of an interesting perspective:

Parties in Congress During the Civil War Era

On Wednesday, Bryant asked about the House party breakdown during the Civil War era. Here are data from the Clerk of the House. Note that secession caused a big drop in the total number of seats and gave the Republicans an advantage. (The D and R figures add up to less than the total because other parties held a small number of seats.)

.............................Total...D...R
35th(1857-1859) 237......132 90
36th(1859-1861) 238........83 116
37th(1861-1863) 183........44 108
38th(1863-1865) 184........72 86
39th(1865-1867) 193........38 136
40th(1867-1869) 226........47 173
41st(1869-1871) 243........67 171
42nd(1871-1873) 243.......104 136
43rd(1873-1875) 292........88 199
44th(1875-1877) 293.......182 103