In My Time - Dick Cheney [269]
I went back up to the Hill a few hours later for the weekly Senate Republican conference lunch. We had opposition to the TARP on the Senate side as well. Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, normally a solid supporter of the administration, spoke out strongly against the bill. But we also had support, and Sessions was followed by Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Mike Enzi of Wyoming, and Kit Bond of Missouri—all of whom spoke about why the bill was so important. I sat quietly and kept track. Eventually six senators spoke in favor and there’d been only one negative statement. I decided I didn’t need to say anything.
ON SEPTEMBER 24, 2008, Republican presidential nominee John McCain announced he was suspending his presidential campaign to come back to Washington to deal with the financial crisis. It was a move that frankly surprised many of us in the White House. After all, there really wasn’t much John could actually do, and it seemed pretty risky to announce the campaign suspension and head back to Washington without being clear about what you could actually deliver. But we wanted McCain to win, so when he asked the president to convene the congressional leadership in the Cabinet Room of the White House to discuss the financial crisis, the president did it. He called Senator Obama, McCain’s opponent, and asked him to be there as well. What unfolded that day in the West Wing was likely unique in the annals of American presidential contests.
The congressional leaders were assembled when the president and I walked into the Cabinet Room from the Oval Office. He went around to the right to his seat, greeting people on his way. I went around to the left to take my seat across the table from him. I’d been there just a few minutes when Senator Obama came around to shake hands and say hello. It was a thoughtful gesture, and he seemed very much at ease and in command of the situation. The president called on Speaker Pelosi to open the session for the Democrats, and she, in turn, deferred to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who said, “Mr. President, we’ve decided that Senator Obama speaks for all of us.” Reid turned the floor over to Senator Obama, a step that immediately put the Democratic presidential nominee on a par with the most senior leaders in the room—and made him the president’s counterpart. Obama was eloquent, saying that we had to get the bill passed, emphasizing how serious the situation was, and offering to lend whatever support he could. He needled the Republicans a little for hanging back, not enough to give offense, but sufficient to put the ball back in our court.
When the president turned to Senator McCain to speak, he passed. Since he had called for the meeting in the first place, that was a surprise. After a few other people expressed their opinions, most of them negative, the president came back to McCain. This time he spoke, but only for himself. It was a marked contrast with Obama, whose words carried the authority of all the Democrats in the room. Senator McCain added nothing of substance. It was entirely unclear why he’d returned to Washington and why he’d wanted the congressional leadership called together. I left the Cabinet Room when the meeting was over thinking the Republican presidential ticket was in trouble.
The president and I kept working the phones, making calls to individual members of Congress, trying to convince them of the importance of this piece of