Republican presidential candidate set to unveil new economic proposals aimed at helping middle-class Americans weather effects of US financial meltdown.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFmccain mad 224.88(photo credit: AP)
Slumping in the polls, Republican presidential candidate John McCain was set to unveil new economic proposals Tuesday aimed at helping middle-class Americans weather the effects of the US financial meltdown as he vowed to make an underdog-style comeback to overcome Democrat Barack Obama's lead in the campaign's final three weeks.
But Obama beat his rival to the punch Monday by proposing immediate steps to heal the ailing US economy, including a 90-day moratorium on home foreclosures at some banks and a two-year tax break for businesses that create new jobs.
With the economic turmoil weighing down his Republican rival, Obama also proposed allowing people to withdraw up to $10,000 from their retirement accounts without any tax penalty this year and next as well as creating a federal fund for loans to US states and cities who are facing mounting deficits as a result of declining tax revenues in what is feared will be a prolonged and deep recession.
McCain's campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said that the Republican nominee's proposals to be introduced Tuesday "will address the ongoing financial and economic crisis, with a special emphasis on those most badly hurt: workers, homeowners, savers and seniors."
Under criticism from fellow Republicans, McCain reset his campaign strategy yet again with a new stump speech that eased back on harsh attacks against Obama while at the same time delivering some of his toughest criticism so far of President George W. Bush's economic policies.
"We cannot spend the next four years as we have spent much of the last eight: waiting for our luck to change. The hour is late; our troubles are getting worse; our enemies watch. We have to act immediately. We have to change direction now. We have to fight," he said at a rally in Virginia, a normally reliably Republican state that he's been forced to defend this year as the economic crisis deepens.
Virginia hasn't voted for a Democratic president since 1964, North Carolina, where he held a second rally Monday, since 1976.
In an interview with CNN, McCain was asked about his campaign's recent tactic of attacking Obama for his association with William Ayers, a founder of the radical Vietnam War-era Weather Underground, which was responsible for bomb attacks on federal buildings.
Obama has denounced Ayers radical past and actions. He was eight years old when they occurred. The two men subsequently served together on the board of a Chicago education foundation and live in the same neighborhood. Ayers hosted a small get-acquainted coffee for Obama when he first ran for public office in Illinois.
"The fact is that Senator Obama was not truthful in telling the American people about his relationship. Very frankly, Dana, I don't give a damn about an old unrepentant terrorist, but what I do care is telling the truth to the American people," McCain said in response to a question from CNN correspondent Dana Bash.
McCain's fortunes have been battered by the US financial crisis. At first the veteran Arizona senator sought to distract attention from his perceived weakness on the economy by attacking Obama. Running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin accused the Democrat of "palling around with terrorists."
The latest shift in the campaign appears to have grown out of the realization that the assaults were not hindering Obama's rise in the polls. The changed tone was stark.
"The national media has written us off," McCain added. "But they forgot to let you decide."
"What America needs in this hour is a fighter," he said, adding that he knew Americans were worried about the direction of the country.
"I know what hopelessness feels like. It's an enemy who defeats your will. I felt those things once before. I will never let them in again," McCain said, a clear reference to his 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. "I'm an American. And I choose to fight."
He renewed his pledge to freeze federal spending, renegotiate distressed mortgages to help middle class homeowners, and cut taxes. He also vowed to bring more experienced leadership to the White House, because "the next president won't have time to get used to the office."
McCain compared Obama to Herbert Hoover, the Republican who was president when the stock market crashed in 1929 triggering the Great Depression.
"The last president to raise taxes and restrict trade in a bad economy as Sen. Obama proposes was Herbert Hoover. That didn't turn out too well," McCain said.
In fact, Obama's tax plan calls for reductions for Americans making less than $200,000 a year - about 95 percent of earners. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that under Obama's approach the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers would see their taxes go up on average by $93,709 in 2009, For McCain, those same wealthy taxpayers would see an average reduction of $48,860.
Obama now leads in enough states to be within reach of the 270 Electoral College votes needed for victory while McCain is being forced to defend Republican turf where polls show the race close.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll showed Obama with a 10 point lead, 53-43 percent, among likely voters with an even larger 2-to-1 margin among voters who put the economy as the top issue in the campaign. The poll, conducted by telephone Oct. 8 to 11, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points for the sample of 766 likely voters. And the latest Gallup Poll tracking survey showed Obama up by 10 points, 51-41.
Speaking in Toledo, Ohio, a struggling working-class city in a state that could be critical to Obama's presidential hopes, Obama said his proposals, with a price tag of $60 billion over two years, can be enacted quickly, either through the government's regulatory powers or legislation that Congress could pass in a special session after the election.
"I'm proposing a number of steps that we should take immediately to stabilize our financial system, provide relief to families and communities and help struggling homeowners," Obama told a crowd of 3,000. "It's a plan that begins with one word that's on everyone's mind, and it's spelled J-O-B-S."
Polls show a close race between Obama and Republican John McCain in Ohio, which decided the 2004 presidential election.
Obama also chided Americans from the top to the bottom of the economic scale for spending beyond their means.
"Part of the reason this crisis occurred, if we're honest with ourselves, is that everyone was living beyond their means - from Wall Street to Washington to even some on Main Street," Obama said.
The 47-year-old Illinois senator also warned voters, although without specifics, to be prepared for a significant squeeze on federal spending.
"We'll have to set priorities as never before, and stick to them," he said. "That means pursuing investments in areas such as energy, education and health care that bear directly on our economic future, while deferring other things we can afford to do without."
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