Obama update No. 3: Obama links "economy in turmoil" with Bush administration

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (AP) — Barack Obama sought on Tuesday to link what he called an "economy in turmoil" with administration energy policies that he asserted Vice President Dick Cheney helped shape. Setting things right will require "all hands on deck efforts," he said.

With polls showing concern over gas prices a prime concern of Americans, Obama has been depicting energy as the nation's most pressing national security and economic issue. In that effort, he criticizes Republican rival John McCain as more concerned about oil company profits and drilling than an overall energy strategy.

"McCain has taken a page out of the Cheney playbook," the Democratic presidential candidate said at Austintown Fitch High School.

Among other things, Obama has proposed a $1,000-per family energy rebate to be paid for by a tax on excessive energy-company profits. He called for ending U.S. reliance on oil from the Middle East and Venezuela over the next 10 years, a project he said would cost the U.S. $150 billion.

Obama has also proposed borrowing oil from the strategic petroleum reserve, a conditional and limited resumption of offshore drilling, and a new emphasis on alternative energy sources and hybrid vehicles.

"Our economy is in turmoil, I don't have to tell the people of Youngstown," Obama told the packed gymnasium audience. "People here have known some hard knocks and hard times."