Obama, McCain trade charges on economy
The campaigns accuse each other of not understanding how the economy works.
With recession in the air and gasoline over $4 a gallon, presumptive presidential nominees John McCain and Barack Obama focused on the economy today, each accusing the other of not understanding how it works.
Obama launched his "Change That Works for You" tour in Raleigh, N.C, where he blamed much of the nation's economic troubles on the Bush administration and policies that he said are "little more than the worn dogma that says we should give more to those at the top and hope that their good fortune trickles down to the many who are hardworking."
Stronger government investment in health care, education, energy and the infrastructure could have lessened some of the economic impact on families, he said, according to a prepared text of his remarks.
"We did not arrive at the doorstep of our current economic situation by some accident of history," Obama said. "This was not an inevitable part of the business cycle that was beyond our power to avoid."
But "this nation has faced such fundamental change before, and each time we've kept our economy strong and competitive" by expanding the middle class and investing in innovation and education, he said.
"For all of George Bush's professed faith in free markets, the markets have hardly been free -- not when the gates of Washington are thrown open to high-priced lobbyists who rig the rules of the road and riddle our tax code with special interest favors and corporate loopholes," Obama said.
He blamed "special-interest driven policies and lax regulation" for "a housing crisis that could leave up to 2 million homeowners facing foreclosure [that] has shaken confidence in the entire economy."
The McCain campaign charged that Obama's economic solutions would "further weaken our economy."
"While hardworking families are hurting and employers are vulnerable, Barack Obama has promised higher income taxes, Social Security taxes, capital gains taxes, dividend taxes, and tax hikes on job creating businesses," campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said.
McCain was off the public campaign trail today, holding a fundraiser in Virginia -- a potential battleground state -- and another in Washington, D.C.
Obama, after campaigning in North Carolina, was in St. Louis this evening for a fundraiser as he targets battleground states Missouri, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida over the next few days -- states that could determine the outcome of the fall election.
