McCain, Obama spar over Wall Street crisis

Both presidential candidates on Saturday used their radio addresses to position themselves as the right man to lead the country through the current crisis of the U.S. financial markets. 

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) termed his opponent for the White House, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), as “out of touch” for his statement earlier this week that the fundamentals of the U.S. economy were strong. In turn, McCain faulted the financial crisis on corruption in Washington, saying Obama did nothing to stop it.

{mosads}“The crisis on Wall Street started in the Washington culture of lobbying and influence peddling, and he was square in the middle of it,” said McCain.

In his address, the GOP nominee said he would create a new federal agency, the Mortgage and Financial Institutions trust, if elected president specifically to resolve the crisis. The Arizona senator also said he would reform the financial services sector to provide more “regulatory clarity” and transparency to Americans.

Obama reiterated his support for the efforts by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to shore up the financial markets with government funds. In his own weekly radio address, President Bush laid out more details and said government intervention was necessary.

“Given the precarious state of our financial markets and their vital importance to the daily lives of the American people, government intervention is not only warranted, it is essential,” said Bush.

In addition, Obama said any plan sponsored by lawmakers must look to help Main Street and not just bail out Wall Street. The Democratic nominee and other party leaders are advocating to attach a second stimulus package to the government recovery effort aimed at the financial markets.

Obama also repeated his campaign promises of a middle class tax cut, universal healthcare and more government investment in renewable energy programs.