morning to suggest a similar intention.
Regardless of who reached out to whom, some agree that both Senators belong in session to discuss the $700 billion financial rescue package and others believe that an effective president should be able to accomplish both objectives. In a news conference later Wednesday afternoon Obama responded to McCain saying that he saw no need to cancel the debates.
“The debate should take place as scheduled,†remarked Pelosi to NPR this evening. “We have to be able to do a couple of things at once. That’s what leadership requires.”
After the event at Statuary Hall Senator Sheila Jackson Lee commented that congress should delay a vote until more thorough investigation is made into who will manage the bailout. “I want to make sure that no one who is responsible for this collapse is able to sit on the commission,†says Lee. “I want us to think deliberatively and be thoughtful about what kind of restructuring we want to have. I want us to make sure that we include diversity and if we go forward that we protect community banks in our neighborhoods–[including] the very few African American banks that still exist such as Unity Bank in Houston Texas.
Several attendees expressed the opinion that McCain wanted to suspend the debate because before the bank crisis he stood firmly on the stance that government should not interfere with the free market.
“It was Sen. McCain who said that the underpinnings of our economy are strong. Well these are the underpinnings,†said California Rep. Diane Watson referring to rampant foreclosure rates and the collapse of several financial institutions in the past year.
“I do believe that Barack Obama will be president, but no single entity will get us to where we need to be,†said Rep. Danny K. Davis of Illinois. “There are serious discrepancies in African American life. We have a lot of work to do, but you can’t work without hope. I think James Weldon Johnson was right when he said we are facing the rising sun of our new day begun.â€