Presidential Political Involvement in Washington’s Economic Bargaining: Helpful or Hurtful?

Last Friday Treasury Secretary Paulson released his bailout plan for Wall Street. Yet, still on Monday, John McCain thought the fundamentals of the economy were strong, which is why by Tuesday, he still had not bothered to read the three page proposal. All of a sudden by early Wednesday afternoon, we were in such a financial crisis that it became necessary to suspend the presidential campaigns to go to Washington.

Was it for hype or did John McCain seriously want to go to Washington to help regulate the economy, something that he boasts never before doing in his political career?
From what I have read, it is mostly a partisan debate. Since McCain was the one to suggest and emphasize the importance of being in Washington during the negotiations, his supporters have said that they were helpful. "I actually think Senator McCain and Senator Obama were one of the catalysts of this effort," Republican Senator Judd Gregg told CNN's Wolf Blitzer. "Having them here in Washington highlighted dramatically for the American people just how dangerous this situation was to folks on Main Street."
Senator Dodd had a different view of the Presidential candidates’ appearances in Washington: "Will all due respect…That delayed and slowed down this process. I think we would have gotten closer to an agreement… had they not come ‘parachuting in.’" Senator Dodd also said, "Respectfully, John McCain did not help. In my view, that was a political stunt."

I agree with Senator Obama, that the eventual president will have to multitask in his job. While I think it is definitely important to hear about the different candidates’ views on the economy, I do agree that being in Washington was mostly a stunt by McCain to try to hold on in the polls, which has proved unsuccessful so far.