McCain, Obama offer little on economy

The two presidential candidates on Monday put aside their heated debate over pig lipstick and returned to the issue most dear to Americans - the economy - but neither offered any new ideas for ending the financial crisis on Wall Street.

In a dizzying day of dueling statements and rapid-response rebuttals, Sen. John McCain said his long experience in Washington makes him better suited to combat Wall Street’s greed and corruption. Sen. Barack Obama, meanwhile, blamed Republican policies for the crisis and claimed he would target aid to middle-class America most hurt by the current financial meltdown.

Yet as they spoke, evidence emerged that the economic fiasco had outgrown government intervention, and their words failed to quell a record plunge of the Dow, which apparently didn’t care that both presidential candidates openly oppose a sputtering U.S. economy.

With two of America’s oldest financial institutions crumbling amid a mortgage crisis and plummeting real estate values, the nominees faced off in a war of words, with attacks and counterattacks, each declaring that he is best able to handle the current economic upheaval.

“You know that there’s been tremendous turmoil in our financial markets in Wall Street,” Mr. McCain said to supporters in Jacksonville, Fla. “People are frightened by these events. … I think still, the fundamentals of our economy are strong, but these are still very, very difficult times, so I promise you: We will never put America in this position again. We will clean up Wall Street.”

Mr. Obama said Mr. McCain’s statement shows that the Republican is “out of touch” as he sought to tie the Arizona senator to the Bush administration.

“This country can’t afford another four years of this failed philosophy,” the Democrat said in an early morning statement. “The challenges facing our financial system today are more evidence that too many folks in Washington and on Wall Street weren’t minding the store.”

But Mr. Obama added: “I certainly don’t fault Senator McCain for these problems, but I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to.”

On Capitol Hill, lawmakers pointed partisan fingers, with Democrats and Republicans blaming each other for not doing enough to stabilize the shaky financial markets. Neither presidential candidate questioned the Congress that they’re part of for its oversight of the tumultuous markets.

“Failing to police lenders and neglecting to protect consumers ushered in the subprime crisis that has brought the American economy and Wall Street to their knees,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat. “This ‘anything goes’ approach to governing has resulted in lost jobs and carries an enormous price tag for the American taxpayer.”

Sen. Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, said that the committee “will continue to monitor” the situations on Wall Street and that it would conduct a “thorough review of how they transpired and what the implications are for global finance, the banking system, the U.S. economy and the American taxpayer.”

Some economists questioned whether there is anything further that either candidate can propose beyond the actions that the Bush administration, the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve have already taken.

“I don’t know that there is too much more that the McCain campaign could come out with that the Bush administration has not already proposed,” said economic consultant Cesar Conda, who was Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief domestic adviser.

The two candidates had been locked in weeks of seemingly petty exchanges, with Mr. McCain most recently accusing his rival of sexism for using the phrase “lipstick on a pig,” which his campaign contended was a dig at Republican running mate Sarah Palin.

Mr. Obama, meanwhile, released an ad last week showing his foe 25 years ago - with the outsized glasses in style then and clad in a now-horribly out-of-date suit - and charged that the 72-year-old doesn’t send e-mails.

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