McCain, Obama define economic debate

Los Angeles Times

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — As a falling stock market stoked fears that the nation’s financial system was spinning out of control, the presidential candidates sought Monday to shape the economic debate.

Democrat Barack Obama accused John McCain of being out of touch after the Arizona Republican said the fundamentals of the U.S. economy remained strong. The vice presidential candidates, Sarah Palin and Joe Biden, joined a debate that became more acrimonious as financial losses increased throughout the day.

“People are frightened by these events,” McCain told thousands of supporters at a campaign stop in Jacksonville, Fla. “The fundamentals of our economy are strong, but these are very, very, difficult” times, he said.

Obama said McCain “doesn’t get what’s happening between the mountain in Sedona where he lives and the corridors of Washington where he works.

“Why else would he say, today, of all days — just a few hours ago — think about this — we just woke up to news of financial disaster, and this morning he said that the fundamentals of the economy are still strong. What’s more fundamental than the ability to find a job that pays the bills and can raise a family?”

McCain later tried to refine his comments at a campaign stop in Orlando, Fla., insisting that he was referring to the effectiveness and innovation of the American worker and small businesses, which McCain has made a key target of his campaign. But McCain also spoke more darkly about the nation’s economic struggles. He blamed Wall Street and pledged changes.

But the Democrats repeatedly tried to bring voters back to their core message: that the economy was in serious trouble after two terms under George W. Bush and that McCain would continue Bush’s policies. “Ladies and gentlemen, I could walk from here to Lansing, and I wouldn’t run into a single person who thought our economy was doing well.”

, unless I ran into John McCain,” Biden said during a campaign stop in Michigan.

Biden, the Delaware senator, condemned what he said was “a culture in Washington where the very few wealthy and powerful have a seat at the table and the rest of us are on the menu.”

“We’re going to put an end to the mismanagement and abuses in Washington and Wall Street that has resulted in this financial crisis,” Palin told a crowd in Colorado, where she campaigned without McCain. “We’re going to reform the way Wall Street does business and stop multi-million dollar payouts and golden parachutes to CEOs who break the public trust.”

Obama also released a new TV ad that cites harsh media criticism that the GOP ticket has drawn in recent days for what even some Republicans concede have been false or misleading statements.