England for Obama

Here’s what Obama said yesterday.

Keith Olbermann looks at what happened yesterday with the scuppered bailout bill - including McCain and Obama’s responses, and what exactly Nancy Pelosi said to offend all those right-wing Republicans:

John McCain last night:

“Senator Obama and his allies in Congress infused unnecessary partisanship into the process. Now is not the time to affix the blame. It’s time to fix the problem.”

Love it.

*Sighs*.

OK, in a nutshell, the GOP have scuppered the bailout plan. It failed to get enough votes, and apparently it’s because a dozen Republicans were upset by Nancy Pelosi’s ‘partisan’ speech. Watch them explain:

- and then watch the brilliant House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank lay into them (from around 4:25 onwards):

Barack Obama said of the latest development:

“It’s important for the American public and the markets to stay calm, because things are never smooth in Congress, and to understand that it will get better…We are going to make sure that an emergency package is put together, because it is required for us to stabilize the markets…

“So I’m confident that we are going to get there, but it’s going to be a little rocky. It’s sort of like flying into Denver — you know you’re going to land, it’s not always fun going over those mountains.”

The MCain campaign, meanwhile - which rode into town claiming it would bring everyone together and of course failed miserably - said:

“From the minute John McCain suspended his campaign and arrived in Washington to address this crisis, he was attacked by the Democratic leadership: Senators Obama and Reid, Speaker Pelosi and others. Their partisan attacks were an effort to gain political advantage during a national economic crisis. By doing so, they put at risk the homes, livelihoods and savings of millions of American families.

Barack Obama failed to lead, phoned it in, attacked John McCain, and refused to even say if he supported the final bill.

Just before the vote, when the outcome was still in doubt, Speaker Pelosi gave a strongly worded partisan speech and poisoned the outcome.

This bill failed because Barack Obama and the Democrats put politics ahead of country.”

Erm, yes. And I think you just “put politics ahead of country” by talking about yourself a lot, and blaming Obama and the Democrats, didn’t you?

Wait a minute - now that it’s failed, doesn’t this mean that John McCain has to suspend his campaign again?

Rachel Maddow of MSNBC explains the economic bailout proposed by the Bush administration, looks at McCain and Obama’s responses (spoiler: they’re remarkably similar), and speaks to Obama economic advisor Robert Reich: