It seems that McCain is aiming for two things: 1) to emphasize his theme of putting “country first,” before partisan politics and 2) avoiding the “out of touch” label that sunk the elder President Bush in 1992.
But in reality, I think the move comes across as panicy at a time when he needs to exude calmness. The Sept. 11 reference, in this context, is more likely to make people more worried about the financial crisis than optimistic that everything will turn out alright. And using the word “suspend” makes him look weak, because it’s normally associated with somebody dropping out of the campaign.
