As Debate Uncertainty Lingers, Candidates Address Clinton Initiative | Online NewsHour: Presidential, Senate and Gubernatorial Election Coverage: Vote 2008 | September 25, 2008 12:54 PM

Presidential Race

By Alexis Matsui on September 25, 2008

As uncertainty swirls around the fate of their first debate on Friday, presidential hopefuls Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama addressed former President Bill Clinton’s Global Initiative in New York Thursday, sounding similar themes on cooperating with international and environmental agencies and boosting the flailing economy.

Sen. John McCain at the Clinton Global Initiative; AP Photo

McCain, who pledged Wednesday to suspend his campaign in order to focus on finding a solution to Congress’s proposed economic bailout, said the focus on energy efficiency is not to be ignored.

“We know that fossil fuel emissions, by retaining heat within the atmosphere, threaten disastrous changes in climate,” he said in his address. “No challenge of energy is to be taken lightly, and least of all the need to avoid the consequences of global warming.”

McCain added that “global warming presents a test of foresight, or political courage, and of the unselfish concern that one generation owes to the next.”

The appearance was McCain’s last before he headed to Washington to work on the proposed $700 billion federal financial bailout, which has faced skepticism in Congress over its broad scope.

Also Wednesday, McCain suggested delaying his first debate with Obama — scheduled for Friday in Oxford, Miss. — amid concerns over the financial maelstrom.

Obama, however, said the debate should go on, stating that the forum is “more important than ever” and that “it is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once.”

At a news conference Thursday, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said he expects the debate to go ahead, though he said he doesn’t have any inside information.

Both Obama and McCain will head to Washington later Thursday to meet with President Bush in a high-level bipartisan meeting on the economy to be held at the White House.

Obama addressed the Global Initiative via satellite after being introduced by former President Clinton. The Illinois senator opened by speaking about the urgency of the current economic crisis before addressing the need for global cooperation efforts in energy reform.

“The carbon emissions in Boston or Beijing don’t just pollute the immediate atmosphere — they imperil our planet,” Obama said.

Posted:
09/25/08 at
03:23 PM

chump change : $700? Oh, whew-- that's almost nothing! I almost thought someone said $700,000,000,000.00 "The appearance was McCain�s last before he headed to Washington to work on the proposed $700 federal financial bailout, which has faced skepticism in Congress over its broad scope."

Posted:
09/25/08 at
04:12 PM

Jared : I know Jim probably has all of his questions ready for tomorrow night but there's one that should be put at the top of the list. The $85b bailout of AIG is enough to give $400,000 to every American citizen. Give the people of this country an explanation for why AIG deserves the money more than its citizens.

Posted:
09/25/08 at
06:10 PM

hispanicmom : I live in Illinois. I'd like to ask my Senator why he refuses to do his job as Senator and go to Capitol Hill at this dire hour and actually DO something rather than just talk about it? McCain wants to postpone the debate, not cancel it. Why is he not willing to do what Senator McCain is willing to do and roll up his sleeves (afterall, Obama has been rolling them up on every stump speech i see him in), get dirty in this Wall Street mess and work a solution? McCain is putting the country first; not the self aggrandizement Senator Obama seems to relish. I wonder if Senator Obama does not want to go to Capitol Hill and do his job because he would have to actually vote YES or NO rather than PRESENT on the historic $700 billion bailout. He says we need leadership. He is right. That is why we need John McCain, who actually is working a solution and not merely talking about one. Were they Governors, they wouldn't need to postpone the debate. But they are still Senators. They need to do the job at hand. We can get to the debate next week. I was in St. Louis for a conference when we got flooding Sept 13. If i didn't stop what i was doing, and get back to Chicago, I would have been negligent. If i told my insurance company, my mortgage company and my family that i wanted to stay in St. Louis because i had a conference, they'd think i was irresponsible. That is how Senator Obama is treating this situation. He's all words. No action.

Posted:
09/26/08 at
10:20 AM

Regain Democracy : Mr. Nader elaborated: "The fact that a candidate can call for changing the date of the debate only two days before it is scheduled indicates how easy it would be for the candidates to also call for the inclusion of the leading third party and independent candidates, which would bring fresh ideas to the table on how our country can most effectively tackle this heavy economic challenge, starting with curbing our imperialist foreign policy."

Posted:
09/26/08 at
12:12 PM

hispanicpapi : I live in Arizona and I wish my Senator weren't such a grandstanding idiot. According to most of the people in Congress, who were already working out an agreement before McCain even arrived, they preferred that the Presidential candidates stay out of the way. Injecting presidential politics into the matter would only delay a solution. Senators Barak Obama and Tom Coburn (R-OK) had the right idea. All that was needed from the candidates was a joint statement supporting the bailout in principle. My senator is also an idiot for trying to bail on a debate on National Security, which is "supposed" to be his strength. Then again, maybe he was trying to push it back to October 2nd, because he knew Caribou Barby will never be ready for her VP debate by then. Bully for you and your unflooded basement! That was a personal choice and neither your insurance carrier nor your mortgage company could have known, nor cared, whether you stayed at the conference or not. In any case, it has little to do with what McPain's trying to do... put on a show for the cameras.

Posted:
09/26/08 at
12:47 PM

subway : Jared, $85 Billion divided by 300 Million is about $283 per American citizen. Maybe they should spend that much more on math education.

Posted:
09/26/08 at
01:01 PM

vietnam vet : I wish Jim would ask why John McCain fought so hard to prevent Congress from creating a committee to search for information about missing POWs and MIA. Then he insisted on being the chairman if there had to be a committee. As chairman, he fought to prevent the declassification of documents that would have helped the families of those missing men. Apparently, he doesn't want the American public to know what some of those documents would tell about his time as a POW, when the North Vietnamese referred to him as the "songbird". We have seen pictures of John McCain having tea with a Cuban psychiatrist or psychologist in a luxury hotel in Hanoi during the war. We also know that both the Cubans and the Russians took part in the interrogation of many of our POWs for propaganda and espionage purposes. Kind of makes you wonder what leverage the Vietnamese, Russians and Cubans may have on John McCain that the American public doesn't even know about.

Posted:
09/26/08 at
01:30 PM

concernedindependent : The recent media coverage has been, understandably, almost entirely focused on our current economic crisis, while other issues and questions have been lost in the background. Please ask Senator McCain about allegations that Rick Davis has had a continuing relationship with Freddie Mac. In light of his criticism of special interests in Washington, and the current taxpayer bailout of Fannie and Freddie, it seems just appalling that we could be paying $15,000 per month to his campaign manager--however indirectly. This is a deal-breaker for me; I want the whole truth, with backup evidence, not empty campaign rhetoric!

Posted:
09/26/08 at
06:24 PM

Michael Bonaventura Warek : Real Value - Engagement Principles The Economy is at the brink and it is not clear it seems to any why a Trillion $ is supposed to fix the problem! The Problem is not to be found in perpetrators you search. There might be the Hedge funds managers that short sell and drive the market down into these worthless Paper they do it earning rewards up to 3 Billion $ per year. It is the value you give money itself that causes the Problem. Money is used as the ultimate worth the value and resource nothing else is to compare. The way to measure for America and the way it is taught is only in competition the that makes the deal and increases the delta feels that he has the Ultimate Value the Price and the American Dream. You will find the fatal flaw not in the bad of others the good is always the bad that one leaves. Altruism in America has only been a limited lifeline that has come to its end. The worthless assets are increasing at a exponential pace that is only corrected by installing the real measure to Value. Money is only the measure not the value or resource that you all think. It is an exchange medium not the McKinsey mine of fortune it has been misused as. Life in the meantime is relenting to increasing frustrations. Isn�t it time you listen to the pindrop of wisdom that is the definition of life within you! Michael Bonaventura Warek

Posted:
09/26/08 at
06:48 PM

Michael Bonaventura Warek : It is abundantly clear there needs to be a rapid change in economical evaluations. Our greed has made us evaluate without measure by just incremental difference to the closest engagement with the other. We need to get back to ancient values originating from the center and encompassing all. It is Important to reflect on life as it is. It is no longer possible to be King of the deal constantly measuring by bigger margin for any Value there is. Money has the potential of measuring Value only when it has an underlying existential Belief. If it the paper becomes the most precious resource on its own it loses its potential to be the measure and drastically will loose all its value since the Belief cannot be sustained as raw material to be mined. This is where it has come to. We are faced with the raw material Money becoming worthless rapidly. We are faced with lost economists that are no longer understanding the world. Michael B. Warek