Now what?

Senator John McCain's behavior the past month has shown just what kind of leader he would be as president. And the picture is not pretty.

Nowhere is that more clear than his erratic response to the recent financial crisis.

McCain's Erratic Response To Financial Crisis

One day McCain wants to appoint a commission. Then he wants to fire the SEC chief. One day he says the fundamentals of the economy are strong. Then he says the economy faces "an historic crisis" so bad that he has to suspend his campaign.

One day he comments on the Bush Administration $700 billion bailout proposal. Then he admits he hasn't read the proposal. Yes that really happened. When asked by a reporter if he would vote for the proposal, McCain said, "I have not had a chance to see it in writing so I would have to examine that." This is the same 3-page proposal he had already discussed in the media and he hadn't even read it.

McCain's dramatic suspension of his campaign was yet another example of his erratic, unstable style. One day he says he won't debate without a bailout deal. Then he decides to debate anyway, even without a bailout deal. And as of this day, there is still no bailout deal, but John McCain continues to campaign.

Not surprisingly, when the bailout failed on Monday, McCain blamed Obama for "partisan attacks" which McCain said were designed to "gain political advantage during a national economic crisis." Then McCain changed his tune and called for bipartisanship.

John McCain's Predictable Unpredictability

You never know what you're going to get with John McCain.

One day he's the hyper-patriotic war hero willing to put "country first." Then the next day he's the hyper-sensitive politician who will sacrifice country for the good of his campaign.

One day he's a maverick riding on the "straight talk express." Then the next day he's compromising his principles to win a few votes.

Maybe after the past month of watching John McCain's decision making style, it's not fair to say that voters don't know what to expect from the Republican presidential nominee. Actually they do know. They can expect erratic, temperamental behavior from a guy who is clearly not fit to make presidential decisions.

We should have seen this eight years ago when the self-proclaimed "maverick of the Senate" was willing to sell his soul to win a few votes in the 2000 South Carolina Republican primary by embracing the Confederate flag.

To his credit, Senator McCain later acknowledged he had put his ambition ahead of his principles in South Carolina. He called his behavior "an act of cowardice." But by then the damage was done and the reputation was begun.

It's the same sort of inconsistent decision making that has put John McCain all over the map on issues like taxes, immigration and offshore drilling.

The John McCain who voted against President Bush's tax cuts because they were tilted too heavily to the rich suddenly found a way to support those tax cuts when he wanted to win the 2008 Republican nomination.

The John McCain who put forward a progressive immigration bill in 2006 conveniently flip flopped in 2008 when he said he wouldn't vote for his own bill.

And the John McCain who said he opposed offshore oil drilling quickly reversed course and said he would support it when the polls showed that Americans were concerned about the high gas prices.

Gimmicks Instead Of Policy

Instead of consistent policy, we've gotten one gimmick after another from McCain during this campaign. First it was the gas tax holiday, which would have robbed the federal highway trust fund of billions of dollars of much needed revenue to rebuild our bridges and roads. But McCain saw an opportunity for a tactical advantage and seized it.

Next it was his selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate. After spending all year arguing that he should be president because of his years of experience to deal with a dangerous world, McCain picked a running mate with -- in the words of conservative George Will -- "negligible experience."

Then it was his dramatic "suspension" of his campaign and his call for postponing the presidential and vice presidential debates. Now there's talk that McCain may suspend his campaign again.

It's no wonder that Saturday Night Live mocked McCain's gimmick with a debate re-enactment that featured a fake McCain with a new "proposal" to a fake Obama. "Effective immediately each of us suspend our campaigns and instead hold a series of three pie-eating contests," the fake McCain said.

Sadly, in this campaign, it wouldn't come as much of a surprise.