Obama, McCain join battle over economy
White House foes Barack Obama and John McCain have feuded over the limping US economy.
By Agencies |
WASHINGTON: White House foes Barack Obama and John McCain have feuded over the limping US economy, each searching for an edge on a potentially defining campaign issue, four months before the election.
Against a backdrop of rising job losses, soaring energy and food costs and a housing crisis, each candidate yesterday accused the other of misleading Americans over their tax policies, and of plotting strategies that would hinder growth.
"Americans are having a tough time, but we've been through worse, and beaten longer odds," Republican hopeful McCain said in Denver, Colorado, as he unveiled his "jobs first" agenda.
Democratic candidate Obama, kicking off a week of expected turf wars over the economy in key battleground states, meanwhile ridiculed his rival's fiscal credentials.
"Senator McCain said earlier this year that America has made "great progress economically" over the past eight years," Obama said.
"He believes we're on the right track, and he's launching a new economic tour today with policies that are very much the same as those we have seen from the Bush Administration."
In a brief moment of drama, Obama's plane had to make an unscheduled landing in St Louis, Missouri, after the pilot detected a mechanical problem. The plane was not in danger, but was grounded for checks.
Obama had to deliver his remarks in a hastily organised event in the midwestern city, rather than at his scheduled location of Charlotte, North Carolina.
McCain undertook to balance the federal budget, in deficit in May to the tune of more than USD 160 billion according to Treasury figures, within four years.
Against a backdrop of rising job losses, soaring energy and food costs and a housing crisis, each candidate yesterday accused the other of misleading Americans over their tax policies, and of plotting strategies that would hinder growth.
"Americans are having a tough time, but we've been through worse, and beaten longer odds," Republican hopeful McCain said in Denver, Colorado, as he unveiled his "jobs first" agenda.
Democratic candidate Obama, kicking off a week of expected turf wars over the economy in key battleground states, meanwhile ridiculed his rival's fiscal credentials.
"Senator McCain said earlier this year that America has made "great progress economically" over the past eight years," Obama said.
"He believes we're on the right track, and he's launching a new economic tour today with policies that are very much the same as those we have seen from the Bush Administration."
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In a brief moment of drama, Obama's plane had to make an unscheduled landing in St Louis, Missouri, after the pilot detected a mechanical problem. The plane was not in danger, but was grounded for checks.
Obama had to deliver his remarks in a hastily organised event in the midwestern city, rather than at his scheduled location of Charlotte, North Carolina.
McCain undertook to balance the federal budget, in deficit in May to the tune of more than USD 160 billion according to Treasury figures, within four years.
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