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"I’m just saying that candidates have faced a lot tougher times and still found the time to debate..."

What tougher times? Name them.

"...plus it looks like McCain didn’t have a clue of how serious it was if he waits until now to start “rolling up his sleeves”."

Did you even listen to his statement? He said he'd been talking to Bernake and Paulson regularly, plus spoke to party leaders today, who said that the legislation as it is written right now, would not pass. So to me that means that there wasn't going to be an easy resolution to the problem without everyone getting involved, rolling up their sleeves and getting the job done.

Barack Obama has been talking alot about how, if elected, he'd be bi-partisan, and reach across the aisle. Well, here was a perfect chance for him to do that, and he passed the opportunity to work with the other side. Running for President is more important than the economy falling apart.

What tougher times? Name them.

FDR - middle of the Great Depression.

FDR - peak of World War II - before D-Day when victory was still in doubt.

Abraham Lincoln - months before the Civil War was to formally break out (when it was clear that things were headed towards war).

Abraham Lincoln - at the height of the Civil War (and facing one of his own Generals in the election).

Truman/Eisenhower - at the height of the Korean War, when it was still in doubt, and when the Cold War was just ramping up (remember, we fought China during the Korean War).

James Madison - right after Congress declared war on Britain in June of 1812.

I would say what we face now is somewhere around George W Bush and the War on Terror, War in Iraq, and Nixon in '68 at the height of the Vietnam War, when we had Americans openly marching (rioting) in the streets, as far as difficulty.

Everything else on the list above was much more serious than what we face now, and yet people still campaigned and still debated.

Hell, Lincoln had to run against one of his own Generals when the North still didn't realize it had the advantage in numbers and equipment, and well before Sherman broke the Confederacy's back.