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Obama and McCain turn focus back to economy
2008-07-28
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Presidential rivals Barack Obama and John McCain shifted the campaign focus back to the faltering U.S. economy on Monday, with Obama convening an all-star panel of advisers to help him hatch new approaches to a deepening problem. Obama met in Washington with a group that included billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who participated by telephone, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and Google Chairman Eric Schmidt. "I believe that more action is going to be necessary," the Democratic senator from Illinois said as the meeting opened. "The economic emergency is growing more severe, jobs are down, wages are falling, the financial markets threaten to be engaged in a protracted credit crunch with long-lasting ramifications," he said. McCain's campaign countered with a conference call in which top economic adviser Carly Fiorina told reporters the Republican has been "quietly talking" with economists and policymakers, including Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, over the past year. "I think the American people are getting treated to yet another photo op by Barack Obama, but meanwhile John McCain has been out talking about the economy, understanding the economy, taking advice on the economy for many, many months," Fiorina said. Polls show economic worries lead U.S. voter concerns by a wide margin. After a week out of the country meeting world leaders and discussing foreign policy, Obama said he is anxious to shift gears to high gas prices, home foreclosures and bank failures. "What I would like to do starting today is figure out how can we start taking more short-term steps and long-term steps to restore balance in our economy so that entrepreneurship is encouraged, so that the market is thriving, so that hard work is rewarded," he said. TOUGH DECISIONS "Many of the crises that we face are a direct result of putting off tough decisions for too many years," Obama added. Among other attendees at the economic session in a Washington hotel on Monday were former Treasury Secretaries Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. Obama said the session was designed to look at both his existing proposals and to help him develop additional steps to help turn around the economy. "You meet people day after day who are one foreclosure notice or one illness or one pink slip away form economic disaster," he said. McCain has criticized Obama for promising to repeal President George W. Bush's tax cuts for Americans who make more than $250,000 and for opposing McCain's call to lift the ban on offshore drilling. Obama has accused McCain of clinging too closely to Bush's economic approach. Polls show a majority of voters prefer the leadership of Obama and Democrats on the economy. But McCain, a harsh critic of what he says is runaway government spending, has made inroads among voters with his call for increased offshore drilling and construction of new nuclear power plants. McCain's top economic advisers said Obama's proposals would hurt small businesses and not foster job growth. Martin Feldstein, a Harvard professor of economics, said Obama's approach would backfire. "Obama's plan will slow the economy, will depress the economy by raising taxes -- raising taxes on business investment, raising taxes on individuals. And that tax increase isn't going to happen immediately, but the fact that he promises that he will make that happen in 2010 or 2011 is enough to continue to depress the economy now," he said. (Editing by David Wiessler)
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