Campaigns try to frame bailout debate

updated 7:11 p.m. ET Sept. 24, 2008

WASHINGTON - President Bush and the two men running to succeed him raised the political stakes dramatically Wednesday in the great bailout debate of 2008, effectively stamping a "too big to fail" sign on congressional efforts to pass a pre-election economic rescue plan.

With the outcome all but assured, details and a timetable for passage of an unprecedented federal intervention in the capital markets remain to be settled. And both John McCain and Barack Obama will be able to claim credit for winning changes in the administration's original plan — some of which the White House has already accepted.

"The whole world is watching to see if we can act quickly," President Bush said early in the week, before his proposal ran into criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike.

So, too, the American electorate, six weeks before choosing between two presidential candidates, now staging side-by-side auditions for the job of national crisis manager-in-chief.

With Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke issuing dire warnings daily, Bush arranged a prime time address to the nation. It was designed to rescue the rescue plan that Bush sent to Congress less than a week ago after he was told that earlier, piecemeal bailouts had not restored confidence to the markets.

With less than four months remaining in office and approval ratings in the 30 percent range, Bush's persuasive powers are as uncertain in Congress as they are with the public.

It was a point some Republicans were willing to make, uncharitably at times.

"It's a tough sell to most of our members," said Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., after a closed-door meeting with Paulson and Bernanke. "It's a terrible plan, but I haven't heard anything better."

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"They sold the war, they sold the stimulus package and some other things. It's the 'wolf at the door'" argument, said Davis, who is retiring at the end of the year.

If Republicans weren't exactly clamoring for Bush to show them the way, Democrats insisted the president step up, for reasons of their own.

"It is time for him to explain why his administration sat on its hands for months and only now has come to realize the need for immediate and unprecedented government action," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

"It is time for him to explain how he could tell our country for months that our economy was fine, yet overnight declare that if American taxpayers don't accept his bailout bill, our country will face an economic disaster."

Translation: Neither Reid nor House Speaker Nancy Pelosi intended to put their rank and file in the position of voting for legislation that Republicans could oppose and then use as a campaign issue against them. But if many Republicans were planning to vote for the measure eventually, they were quiet about it on Wednesday.

While Bush was exercising his presidential powers, would-be successors McCain, the Republican, and Obama, the Democrat, were trying out for his job.

McCain, trailing once more in the race for the White House, announced he would return to Washington to help work on legislation. He suggested he and Obama hold around-the-clock meetings with congressional leaders and administration officials until they had reached an agreement, and he said this Friday's presidential debate should be rescheduled in deference to the crisis.

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