Before the suspension....And Obama's response

This morning Obama calls McCain to discuss the idea that the two candidates should release a joint statement that reveals the principles by which the relevant parties should discuss the bailout. According to TNR:

At 8:30 this morning, Senator Obama called Senator McCain to ask him if he would join in issuing a joint statement outlining their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal. At 2:30 this afternoon, Senator McCain returned Senator Obama’s call and agreed to join him in issuing such a statement. The two campaigns are currently working together on the details.

The question remains: If this situation were so dire, dire enough to cancel the debate, why didn't McCain act earlier in the day. According to the McCain camp, the Senator, "was meeting with economic advisers and talking to leaders in Congress throughout the day prior to calling Senator Obama."
Yet, according to Politico:

My colleague Amie Parnes reports that he made it to his scheduled morning meeting with Lady Lynn de Rothschild, a Clinton backer who recently came out in support of him.

If de Rothchild an economic adviser or a Congressional leader?

Country first. Or, country after fundraising with the de Rothchilds. Or, just politics first, right John.

Obama's response to this political stunt.

“It’s my belief that this is exactly the time the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible with dealing with this mess," he said. "In my mind, actually, it's more important than ever that we present ourselves to the American people and try to describe where we want to take the country and where we wnt to take the economy as well as dealing with some of the issues of foreign policy that were initially the subject of the debate."

"What I think is important is that we don’t suddenly infuse Capitol Hill with presidential politics,"

"Presidents are going to have to deal with more than one thing at a time," he says. "It’s not necessary for us to think that we can do only one thing, and suspend everything else."