(Editor Note: The picture with this post looks like Obama is waving goodbye.  That is a coincidence).

3:40 PM CST:  The opening comment, “There is much blame to go around but we are now here.  We have to act quickly but we have to get it right… I reached out to Senator McCain because many of my proposals were shared by Senator McCain… A joint statement might be useful…  They called back about 2:30 ET today…”

Obama is reiterating his economic principles that should drive any decision.  This writer cannot keep up.  We will report as soon as we get the information.

Senator McCain and I talked this afternoon and we agree that we need a bi-partisan solution to the economic crisis.  We should all do everything possible to get a bill passted… The risk of doing noting is economic catastrophe – that is a risk we cannot take… Let me open this up to questions.”

Reporters want to know if McCain’s action is political.  Obama “It is my belief that this is exactly the time when the people of America need to hear from the person who will be elected President in about 40 days.  We can be useful in solving this problem and present ourselves to the American people.”

“Everyone should know that the Democratic standard bearer and Republican standard bearer have come together to solve this problem. ”

“If I can be helpful then I am prepared to be anywhere at anytime.  But we should not confuse our political agenda with a crisis in Washington.”

“It may be necessary for both of us to be there to send a message about the importance of this legislation. But I must say that the legislation should cover the principles I have discussed.”

“We should have the debate on national security. If we need to be in Washington we both have big planes and they can get us to Mississippi pretty quickly.”

“We need to be focused on solving the problem.  It is important that we communicate to the America people on what it is we need to do to get us out of this situation.”