Obama's Ghostbusters Strategy

By Kyle-Anne Shiver and Lee Cary

Will someone please help me understand Senator Barack Obama's statement that "I'm sure they'll call me if they need my help?" He was talking about the Washington D.C. pow wow to resolve the financial crisis and his unnecessary presence there.

This time of the year, most political verbiage, regardless of the source, washes over our ears like so much ambient white noise. But every once in a while, a politician says something that leaves us (me anyway) with a nagging sense of wilderment accompanied by a soft "Say what?" hum in our brain. A lingering disconnect linked to incredulousness on one end, and momentary stupefaction on the other. And there it sits, chewing on the psyche, demanding an explanation that makes some sort of sense.

That's how I felt when Illinois Senator Obama said - If they need a ghost buster, they got my number. Who you gonna call?

In the meantime, the Beltway pundits were rendering their pseudo-profundities on how McCain was engaged in an election stunt by threatening not to show up for the debate in Mississippi. How he was damaging his campaign by suspending it until the financial crisis was resolved. How he really wasn't needed there. And so on. You probably heard your share of the pontifications. (If you didn't, I've got extras to spare.)

So, to review: It's a little over a month to the election. The big market brains in Washington are screaming that the sky is in danger of falling. Either McCain or Obama will be the next president. Unless there's a big surprise turnout for Bob, Ralph or Cynthia. And Obama says they'll (who's "they") call him if he's needed. In the meantime, logically then, he doesn't feel needed. Or, he doesn't need to feel the ordeal.

I'd be like one of two Executive Vice Presidents in line to be the next CEO of MegaCorp not attending an executive committee meeting where corporate policy for the future is being decided. How much sense would that make?

Obama ends up going anyway, apparently in response to President Bush's invitation. The meeting he's in, by all accounts, ends up being a classic D.C....ah, routine-liquid-biological-function-distant contest, and Obama blames it on the presence of cameras drawn there because the presidential candidates came. Read the emphasis as - "Because I'm there."

Somebody help me here. Aren't cameras as ubiquitous in D.C. as mosquitoes in Minnesota?

Can you image Brett Favre saying the game didn't go well because there were too many people in the stands?

Help me. I'm perplexed.