Rejecting Republican McCain’s call to postpone the first U.S. presidential debate, scheduled in Mississippi on Friday, to work on legislation dealing with the worst U.S. financial crisis since the Great Depression, Democrat Obama said: “What I’m planning to do now is debate on Friday.”

Obama made this statement shortly after McCain called for Friday’s debate to be postponed, adding that he would suspend his campaign to help work out agreement among lawmakers on a proposed $700 billion financial bailout plan. Commenting on the timeline of Wednesday’s events, Obama also offered veiled criticism of McCain, indicating that the Arizona senator had gone public at a time when both candidates had pledged to work together on a joint statement.

Noting that “Democrats and Republicans need to come together to help to stabilize the economy”, Obama added that he was in constant contact with congressional leaders and the Bush administration on the financial crisis. He said: “What I think is important, though, is that we don’t suddenly infuse Capitol Hill with presidential politics at a time when we’re in the middle of some very delicate and difficult negotiations. So, you know, I think the message is, if you need us, if I can be helpful, I’m prepared to be there at any point.”

Referring to the debate, he said: “It’s my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess. I think that it is going to be part of the president’s job to deal with more than one thing at once.”

Meanwhile, the host of Friday night’s debate too said that the debate would go on as scheduled on Friday at 9 p.m. Eastern time. The statement issued by the University said: “The University of Mississippi is going forward with the preparation for the debate. We are ready to host the debate, and we expect the debate to occur as planned.”

The bipartisan Commission on Presidential Debates also said: “We believe the public will be well served by having all of the debates go forward as scheduled.”

According to Carleton College’s Schier, McCain’s proposal of postponement of the debate suggests a ‘regular’ pattern of trying to constantly stir up a race in which he faces an almost impossible landscape of an unpopular president, an unpopular war and a faltering economy. Schier’s comment on the Republican gambit was: “They see themselves in a hostile environment. They feel it’s up to them to continually change the game to their advantage, because if they don’t, they lose.”