Obama and McCain trade shots in Ohio
McCain warns that the Democrat's plans would put millions of jobs at risk. Obama's 'closing argument' charges that McCain would continue President Bush's economic policies.
Reporting from Cleveland and Canton, Ohio — Both Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain focused on the economy today in the pivotal state of Ohio, a must-win state for McCain that is suffering near-record job losses.
Trailing in polls here and in other states once carried by President Bush, McCain met with his economic advisors in Cleveland and issued a statement afterward warning that millions of jobs would be at risk under an Obama administration.
"The difference between myself and Senator Obama is our plan will create jobs," said McCain, flanked by former vice presidential candidate Jack Kemp, former EBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. "It's a difference of millions of jobs in America."
McCain said voters can trust him on the economy because "I've been through tough times like this before." As for Obama's plan to raise taxes on those making more than $250,000 a year, McCain said "the most likely outcome" is that Obama will "increase spending, and then raise taxes to pay for it."
Obama's economic plan, McCain predicted, "will destroy business growth, kill jobs and lead to continued declines in the stock market and make a recession even deeper and more painful."
But one week before the election, 60 miles downstate in the industrial town of Canton, Obama plans to issue a call for voters to "give this country the change we need."
In prepared excerpts from what his campaign calls "the closing argument," Obama plans to argue that "the biggest gamble we can take is embracing the same old Bush-McCain policies that have failed us for the last eight years."
Ahead in national polls, Obama argues that the economic crisis was fueled in part by "an era of profound irresponsibility," in which lenders "tricked people into buying homes they couldn't afford," Wall Street gorged on its own greed and Washington spent money it didn't have "and allowed lobbyists to set the agenda."
In the speech, Obama credits McCain for serving his country honorably and for parting company with the Bush White House on issues such as the use of torture on suspected terrorists.
But on the economy, Obama says, McCain represents a continuation of Bush policies.
"When it comes to the central issue of this election, the plain truth is that John McCain has stood with this president every step of the way," Obama said. "Voting for the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy that he once opposed. Voting for the Bush budgets that spent us into debt. Calling for less regulation 21 times just this year."
