McCain suspends debate and small town values.

I live in a small town. We have 20,000 residents on a good day. Our chamber of commerce keeps chain retailers out of our downtown district; we only got fast food restaurants in the nineties. We have a small but thriving local economy, with several boutiques, antique shops, and a famous local bookstore that has prospered in spite of the emergence of huge national retailers. Everyone knows everyone, and we do our best to preserve our community and take care of each other.

This small town is Oxford, Mississippi.

Over the past several months, our community and the university at its center have gone through enormous effort and great expense to ensure that the upcoming presidential debate runs smoothly and that the campus and downtown area are conveniently accessible. Senior citizens have mobilized to volunteer as foot-traffic coordinators, to make sure that the media and campaigners can find their way around our historic downtown Square. Students, academic departments, and prominent citizens have organized town activities around the debate. Our police officers have been working tirelessly to implement security measures and curb DUI's, so that all of the visitors will be safe.

Our university has spent $5 million.

It was to be a historic moment for all of us, regardless of political affiliation--the first African-American presidential candidate on a major party ticket in the first presidential debate of the race. It was something we could all be proud of--to shed the burden of our past mistakes, while embracing the legacy that James Meredith began here forty-six years ago, in pursuit of equality and civil rights.

Some say that McCain is avoiding the debate as a political stunt; some say that he is abandoning politics to pursue an epic national goal. Right now, I think that question is irrelevant to most of us here, in small town, Oxford, U.S.A.

My question--what I think is our question--is how are you standing up for small towns today, Senator McCain? How are you standing up for ours?

Did the University of Mississippi administration learn of this from you, or did they hear about it on CNN?

Do you have any concern for how this will affect our local economy, after we laid out so much money for an event that likely won't happen?

Do you have any concern for the frantic, upset, and demoralized local citizens who have worked so hard over the past few months to facilitate this event, to set up tents, to clean up our campus, to volunteer as guides, to patrol our streets?

Will you talk to us? Will you address us? Will you ever mention us by name?