Eisenhower, on the night before the Normandy invasion, went into his room, and he wrote out two letters.

One of them was a letter congratulating the great members of the military and allies that had conducted and succeeded in the greatest invasion in history. . . .

And he wrote out another letter, and that was a letter of resignation from the United States Army for the failure of the landings at Normandy.

Somehow we’ve lost that accountability.

Now, as it happens, McCain’s account wasn’t entirely correct.  Will Bunch dug up the original “other” letter, and Eisenhower doesn’t offer to resign — but the general did conclude by saying, “If any blame is found attached to the attempt, it is mine alone.” So the broad point about accepting responsibility remains.

Which brings us to the tragicomic events of yesterday’s political circus.  Beginning with the announcement of a tentative bailout deal over the weekend, McCain’s surrogates fanned out to every TV news show they could to open the letter of (self-)congratulation on St. John’s behalf, pointing to his melodramatic “suspension” of his campaign as the essential turning point that made the agreement happen.

Finally, McCain stepped forward to thank himself in a Monday morning appearance in Ohio… just hours before the bailout failed to pass in the House of Representatives.

McCain’s attitude now, via CNN:

During a campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday, McCain appeared to distance himself from Monday’s House vote, saying the congressional inaction had “every American and the entire economy at the gravest risk.”

“Yesterday, the country and the world looked to Washington for leadership, and Congress once again came up empty-handed,” he said.

Y’know, like he hadn’t gone to Washington himself, and tried to hog the credit when he thought there would be some.  This comes after yesterday’s attempt to blame Barack Obama and congressional Democrats — everyone, it seems, but himself.

What happened to that other envelope, Senator? The one with the other letter inside it?

MY DEAR AMERICAN FRIEND:

I AM NEEDING TO ASK YOU TO SUPPORT AN URGENT SECRET BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH A TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF GREAT MAGNITUDE.
I AM MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICA. MY COUNTRY HAS HAD CRISIS THAT HAS CAUSED NEED FOR LARGE TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF 700 BILLION OF YOUR DOLLARS (US). IF YOU WOULD ASSIST ME IN THIS TRANSFER IT WOULD BE MOST PROFITABLE TO YOU.
I AM WORKING WITH HIGHLY REPUTABLE MR. PHIL GRAM, LOBBYIST FOR UBS, WHO WILL BE MY REPLACEMENT AS MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY IN JANUARY IF MY POLITICAL PARTY WINS UPCOMING ELECTION, WHICH WE CERTAINLY WILL BECAUSE WE ARE IN CONTROLING OF THE HIGHEST SUPREME COURT. YOU MAY REMEMBER HIM AS A SENATOR AS LEADER OF THE AMERICAN BANKING DEREGULATION MOVEMENT IN THE 1990S.
THIS TRANSACTIN IS 100% SAFE. YOU MUST TRUST ME COMPLETELY AND NOT ASK QUESTIONS ABOUT THE TRANSACTION. YOU HAVE MY WORD NO ONE WILL DO ANYTHING WRONG WITH THE MONEY.
THIS IS A MATTER OF GREAT URGENCY. WE NEED YOUR BLANK CHECK. WE NEED THE FUNDS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WE CANNOT DIRECTLY TRANSFER THESE FUNDS IN THE NAMES OF OUR CLOSE FRIENDS BECAUSE WE ARE CONSTANTLY UNDER SURVEILLANCE. MY FAMILY LAWYER ADVISED ME THAT I SHOULD LOOK FOR A RELIABLE AND TRUSTWORTH PERSONAGE WHO WILL ACT AS A NEXT OF KIN SO THE FUNDS CAN BE TRANSFERRED. YOU ARE THAT PERSONAGE.
PLEASE REPLY WITH ALL OF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, IRA AND COLLEGE FUND ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND THOSE OF YOUR CHILDREN, GRANDCHILDREN AND THOSE YET UNBORN TO WALLSTREETBAILOUT@TREASURY.GOV SO THAT WE MAY TRANSFER YOUR COMMISSION FOR THIS TRANSACTION. AFTER I RECEIVE THIS INFORMATION I WILL RESPOND WITH DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT SAFEGUARDS WE PROMISE WILL BE USED TO PROTECT THE FUNDS AND PRODUCE A LONG-TERM RETURN ON INVESTMENT FOR YOU AND THOSE YOU LOVE.
YOURS FAITHFULLY
MINISTER OF TREASURY H. PAULSON

Don’t get me wrong, the Feds need to do something, and reasonably quickly.  I don’t think a bi-partisan solution is credible – too many old-school Repugs are wedded to their extremist, anti-goverment, anti-regulation fantasies.  The Dems need to link the House Repugs to their nasty lame duck President, blame them for fighting market oversight, for ignoring the looming crash, and for delaying the news until after the Repug convention, and for now trying to ram down a pro-rich guy plan of socializing bad financial assets.

It was pretty clear in the Prez debate that the two candidates want to steer a wide path of the bailout, an extremely unpopular topic with the public.  But if Obama can’t do it, the Dem leadership needs to go on the warpath and make this unpopular bailout a Republican bailout.  Or we’ll just see another repeat of this crap in 10-15 years.

*Update* Spy Buddy suggested an interesting idea to get through the impasse – bring in two tough but practical pols, one from each party, from outside Capitol Hill – her thought was Michael Bloomberg and Willie Brown – and let them hammer out a real deal while crushing any dissent.  I’d still like to see the Dems make some hay out of the Repugs, but her tactical suggestion is more practical for getting us through the next few days.