Obama and McCain battle over U.S. financial crisis
GREEN BAY, Wisconsin (Reuters) - Barack Obama proposedreforms on Monday to rein in practices that led to the worstU.S. financial crisis since the Depression, while White Houserival John McCain touted his own remedies and accused Obama offailing to provide leadership.
McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, pushed aplan he offered last week calling for an independent panel tooversee a Wall Street bailout that could cost as much as $1trillion. He said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had too muchpower in the crisis.
"This arrangement makes me deeply uncomfortable," McCain,an Arizona senator, told a gathering of Irish-Americans inScranton, Pennsylvania. "When we are talking about a trilliondollars of taxpayer money, 'trust me' just isn't good enough."
Wall Street has been rocked by the worst financial crisissince the Great Depression, with global credit markets seizingup over concerns about the plummeting value of U.S. housing andsecurities based on home mortgages.
The Bush administration moved last week to restore calm inthe markets, asking Congress to approve a plan that wouldenable the government to acquire up to $700 billion in home andcommercial mortgages. The move aims to stabilize the firms bytaking the bad assets off their books.
The crisis has dominated the campaign trail over the pastweek as Democrat Obama and Republican McCain tried to projectleadership and outline the principles they believe should guidethe process -- although both have been essentially sidelined asthe bailout is negotiated.
Obama has seen a steady rise in public opinion polls duringthe last week, however, with most polls showing the raceessentially tied or Obama with a narrow lead and the economyremaining by far the top issue.
A CNN poll released on Monday indicated more Americansthink Obama would do a better job handling an economic crisisthan McCain.
In the poll of 1,020 people conducted Friday throughSunday, 49 percent said Obama would display good judgment in aneconomic crisis, compared with 43 who said the same aboutMcCain.
According to the poll, Obama has a 10-point lead overMcCain on the question of who would better handle the economyoverall.
At a campaign rally in Wisconsin, Obama said he would aimto prevent another crisis by pushing for measures to curb theinfluence of lobbyists, streamline and strengthen regulatoryagencies, crack down on no-bid government contracts and makegovernment more open and transparent.
REFORM "BROKEN GOVERNMENT"
"No matter what solution we finally decide on this week, itis absolutely imperative that we get to work immediately onreforming the broken politics and the broken government thatallowed this to crisis to happen in the first place," he told acrowd of about 6,000 in Green Bay.
The first-term Illinois senator said an "ethic ofirresponsibility" had swept through government, and McCain -- afour-term Arizona senator and 26-year veteran of Washington whohas largely favoured deregulation -- was part of the problem.
"When it comes to regulatory reform, Senator McCain hasfought time and time again against the common-sense rules ofthe road that could have prevented this crisis," he said.
McCain called for a bipartisan board to establish criteriafor which firms get government help. He suggested billionaireinvestor Warren Buffet -- an Obama supporter -- as a potentialmember, as well as former Republican presidential candidateMitt Romney and independent New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
McCain said his plan would keep people from losing theirhomes while protecting the capital markets, and he needledObama for failing to put forward his own suggestions.
Obama has delayed offering a detailed plan while thesolution is being hammered out in Congress.
"At a time of crisis, when leadership is needed, SenatorObama has simply not provided," McCain said. "And the truth isthat we don't have time to wait for Senator Obama's input toact."
The two campaigns debuted new advertisements attacking eachother, with McCain portraying Obama as a product of Chicago'scorrupt machine politics and Obama highlighting his charge thatMcCain's health care plan would deregulate that industry theway banking was deregulated.
(Additional reporting by Ellen Wulfhorst in Pennsylvania;writing by David Alexander; editing by David Wiessler and BillTrott)