Barack Obama says bailout would put his spending plans on hold

WASHINGTON – Democrat Barack Obama said today that the massive bailout package being negotiated to rescue Wall Street will likely force him, if elected, to delay some of the spending programs he has advocated on the campaign trail.

Noting that the Treasury Department would not disperse all the funds immediately from a proposed $700 billion bailout package, Obama acknowledged that some of his proposals for health care and education reform, improvement to the nation’s infrastructure and investment in a new “green” energy sector might have to be phased in.

“Does that mean I can do everything that I’ve called for in this campaign right away? Probably not,” he said on NBC’s “Today.” “I think we’re going to have to phase it in. And a lot of it’s going to depend on what our tax revenues look like.”

Obama, who has criticized Republican John McCain for suggesting that giant insurer American International Group should be allowed to fail, also faulted his own running mate, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, for making the same suggestion.

“I think Joe should have waited as well,” said Obama, who did wait before issuing a statement that the AIG bailout was regrettable but necessary, a position McCain has now adopted as well.

With new polls showing that Obama has gained little support from former backers of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Obama was asked if he regretted not putting her on the ticket.

“I am a great admirer of Sen. Clinton’s,” he said. “And she has been extraordinary in her support of our campaign. She’s been campaigning with me… . She’s a close, close advisor and hopefully will be that going forward. Joe Biden is also an outstanding public servant and I am very proud of the choice that I made.”

Clinton said today that she has “no doubt” Obama is going to be elected the next president.

“And here’s why. If anybody looks at the mess we’re in today, why would they reward the Republicans?” she said on CBS’s “The Early Show.” “I mean that makes no sense to me at all.”

Asked whether Obama should have picked her, Clinton said, “You know, he had every right to choose who he wanted to choose. And he made a great choice … I think our ticket is well equipped for handling the mess they’re going to inherit. Because make no mistake about it, this is going to be one of the most difficult presidential transitions because of everything that President Bush has done to our country’s detriment.”

Clinton, who during the primary underscored Obama’s inexperience by saying that she was ready to lead “from day one,” added that Obama and Biden are “ready, they’re ready to lead, they’re ready to make these tough decisions, and that’s what the country desperately needs.”

Asked about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s reception on the national stage, Clinton said any woman in politics “at the level of presidential and vice presidential politics” is going to run into issues of gender. Calling it “just a fact of life,” she argued that other factors will drive the election.

“I’ve campaigned all over for Barack,” she said. “I’ve been to Florida, Ohio, Nevada, New Mexico, from, you know, New Hampshire to California, and I always say to people, “I know how interested you are in this election, but instead of asking each other ‘Who are you for?’ ask, ‘Who is for you?’ And there isn’t any other answer except Barack Obama and Joe Biden.”

 johanna.neuman@latimes.com