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I am suspending this blog until the financial crisis is solved, and I call on Brad DeLong to do the same

Wait, you mean this only works for presidential candidates? Comment away on this. The policy wonk in me is flabbertgasted at the chutzpah involved in this move — seriously, if you take all of his pronouncements about the financial crisis over the past two weeks and consider them together, and it’s hard not to agree ...

By Daniel W. Drezner, a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

September 24, 2008, 8:45 PM

Wait, you mean this only works for presidential candidates? Comment away on this. The policy wonk in me is flabbertgasted at the chutzpah involved in this move -- seriously, if you take all of his pronouncements about the financial crisis over the past two weeks and consider them together, and it's hard not to agree with Virginia Postrel. The politics junkie in me admires both the creativity and long-shot nature of the gambit as a way to change the media narrative. UPDATE: I agree with John Dickerson's take in Slate: It's not clear what exactly McCain is going to do in Washington. He doesn't sit on any of the relevant committees and everyone is already deep in negotiations. Still, he's coming anyway. It doesn't make much logical sense. The only way to understand it is politically: In a presidential campaign, the surest sign that a candidate is playing politics on an issue is when he claims not to be playing politics on an issue. The only way for McCain to convince everyone that his intentions are 100 percent pure is for him to drop out of the race completely. A campaign doesn't end—and its distracting affects don't disappear—just because one candidate says so. It's hard to believe that McCain's actions would pass his own laugh test. In fact, he's often snickered at his fellow senators who come in at the eleventh hour to lend a hand after McCain has done the hard work. But the McCain campaign is past caring about how journalists (or colleagues) view his moves. He hopes the rest of the country will see this as a leadership moment.... Whether McCain's crazy gambit is seen as desperate or brilliant, it doesn't matter. Either way, it's probably not the last. The beneficial effects of the Palin Hail Mary lasted only a few weeks, and another adrenaline injection was needed. If this one doesn't work, that's OK—in due time they can try another razzle-dazzle play. And if it does work, that's great—in due time they can still try another razzle-dazzle play. It all makes the prospect of a McCain White House very exciting. So exciting, he might want to schedule periodic suspensions of his presidency to get anything done. Apropos of a comment, I think we can label this the Favre-ization of the McCain campaign.

Wait, you mean this only works for presidential candidates? Comment away on this. The policy wonk in me is flabbertgasted at the chutzpah involved in this move — seriously, if you take all of his pronouncements about the financial crisis over the past two weeks and consider them together, and it’s hard not to agree with Virginia Postrel. The politics junkie in me admires both the creativity and long-shot nature of the gambit as a way to change the media narrative. UPDATE: I agree with John Dickerson’s take in Slate:

It’s not clear what exactly McCain is going to do in Washington. He doesn’t sit on any of the relevant committees and everyone is already deep in negotiations. Still, he’s coming anyway. It doesn’t make much logical sense. The only way to understand it is politically: In a presidential campaign, the surest sign that a candidate is playing politics on an issue is when he claims not to be playing politics on an issue. The only way for McCain to convince everyone that his intentions are 100 percent pure is for him to drop out of the race completely. A campaign doesn’t end—and its distracting affects don’t disappear—just because one candidate says so. It’s hard to believe that McCain’s actions would pass his own laugh test. In fact, he’s often snickered at his fellow senators who come in at the eleventh hour to lend a hand after McCain has done the hard work. But the McCain campaign is past caring about how journalists (or colleagues) view his moves. He hopes the rest of the country will see this as a leadership moment…. Whether McCain’s crazy gambit is seen as desperate or brilliant, it doesn’t matter. Either way, it’s probably not the last. The beneficial effects of the Palin Hail Mary lasted only a few weeks, and another adrenaline injection was needed. If this one doesn’t work, that’s OK—in due time they can try another razzle-dazzle play. And if it does work, that’s great—in due time they can still try another razzle-dazzle play. It all makes the prospect of a McCain White House very exciting. So exciting, he might want to schedule periodic suspensions of his presidency to get anything done.

Apropos of a comment, I think we can label this the Favre-ization of the McCain campaign.

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner