Opinion: John McCain’s new mantra: Statements aren’t needed, action is

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Barack Obama reached out to John McCain this morning and, about now, the Democratic presidential candidate may be wishing he’d lingered over breakfast.

McCain, in an interview airing on the ‘CBS Evening News with Katie Couric’ told the anchor he had no problem with Obama’s suggestion that they issue a joint statement on the nation’s financial crisis.

But that statement has yet to be issued. What happened first was the announcement by the GOP presidential aspirant that he was suspending his campaign, returning to Washington to wade into the congressional talks over a bailout package, and calling for a suspension of Friday’s debate in Mississippi with Obama.

And, summing up, here’s what McCain had to tell Couric: ‘Now is not the time for statements. Now is the time to act.’

Many Democrats quickly reacted to McCain’s decision to return to Capitol Hill (where neither he nor Obama have spent much time in months) as grandstanding.

But expect McCain, Sarah Palin and their surrogates to echo variations of the comment he made to Couric for days to come.

— Don Frederick