Sometimes it is hard to multitask. Especially in stressful situations. But let's face facts, for the president of any country- and especially a country as diverse, large and complex as the USA, multitasking is a basic job requirement.

These last two weeks we have gotten one piece of bad news after another. It is hard perhaps to show real leadership in crisis while managing a very important and political campaign but so far the Obama team has been able to manage. They have kept their calm, and offered an evolving plan for what needs to happen not just to stem the tide of the crisis but make the long range fixes, (like a green revolution) that will put us back on track. I didn't like that Obama helped rush through this bailout, but I also know he spent considerable time on the phone with the CBC trying to think beyond this to help on bankruptcy, foreclosure and other main street issues.

The McCain campaign; not.so.much. In fact they can't even talk about the economy and campaign. All they can do is campaign. And for them, campaigning means baseless attacks, smears, propaganda and diversion. The economy is the biggest issue of the day, with the second issue being Iraq-- so the campaign should be about the candidates plans for those two things. Where can we see John McCain's touted experience and leadership in these new smears? Where is he on the real problems America is facing?

Here is the Obama campaign reaction to the McCain Agenda for the next 29 days.

On a day after we learned that America lost three-quarters of a million jobs this year and a week after our financial system teetered on the brink of collapse, John McCain and his campaign have announced that they want to 'turn the page' on the economic crisis facing working families and spend the last month of this election launching dishonest, dishonorable character attacks against Barack Obama. We understand that it's not easy for John McCain to defend the worst economic record of our lifetime, but he will have to explain to the people struggling to pay their bills and stay in their homes why he would rather spend his time tearing down Barack Obama than laying out a plan to build up our economy," said Obama-Biden Spokesman Bill Burton.

I am looking forward to the debate.