Gambit

I’ve been reading quite a few news sources and blogs. The word “gambit” comes up a lot in reference to John McCain’s sudden announcement that he will suspend his campaign in order to return to Washington to help broker a deal on the Wall Street bailout.

As a tactical move, it’s pretty strong. He’s – again – grabbed the national news spotlight. The media is going bonkers over this, as are most of the blogs, left and right. Look at Memeorandum right now – McCain has pretty much sucked all the media/blog attention up with this.

As a strategic move, it is either very risky or absolutely brilliant.

IF McCain helps broker a deal and IF that deal contains a poison pill for Wall Street executives in the form of pay restrictions in return for taking the Federal Money, I think McCain wins his gambit. The pay limits would play very, very well with Main Street America. And it would make Obama’s refusal to quit campaigning and fund raising look very, very narcissistic.

It’s a gutsy move. McCain has already scared the socks off of Harry Reid with this one – because it could be a real political dambuster, depending on how it plays out.