Obama offers support for bailout deal

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in his first interview since Friday's debate offered support for the Wall Street bailout package quickly forming on Capitol Hill and continued to link  GOP rival Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) to President Bush.

Obama said the country on Friday had a chance to listen to two highly different views on the country's direction, and repeatedly cast McCain's debate statements as showing he would continue the economic and foreign policy positions of President Bush.

{mosads}The Democratic presidential candidate also said he expects to support the bailout package congressional negotiators and the Bush administration appear poised to strike.

Obama told "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer that Congress needs to get something done to help the economy, and that he agreed with Bush that the situation is grave.

“I agree this is probably the most serious financial crisis we've faced since the Great Depression, and what we can't do is do nothing,” Obama said.

He said he was pleased that the package forming in Congress appears to include principles that Obama said he's stressed to congressional negotiators and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.

Obama said those principles included a body that would provide oversight over Treasury's plan to buy up troubled mortgage-backed assets from banks; restrictions on the compensation of executives of companies taking part in the program; additional relief for homeowners struggling with their mortgages; and rules that could allow taxpayers to share in the profits if Treasury is ultimately able to sell off the assets it buys.

Obama noted that none of these provisions was in the initial proposal from Treasury.

How the public views Obama's and McCain's positioning on the package could be vital in their presidential contest. McCain briefly suspended his campaign and called for Friday's debate to be postponed so that he could take part in negotiations, before quickly reversing course. Democrats scolded McCain for upsetting delicate talks.

Obama on Sunday appeared to be trying to suggest that he had played an important role in forming the package. Republicans, for their part, have tried to play up McCain's role, and McCain on Sunday said the deal now forming is better than the one that was shaping when he announced his campaign suspension on Wednesday.

Congressional negotiators announced early this morning they had reached a breakthrough and that a deal on the package was close. The hope is that the news of a deal will brighten prospects on the markets when they open Monday morning in Asia, and that a House vote on the package can take place sometime Monday.

Obama said the country never should have got into the position where a $700 billion bailout package was necessary, and he criticized McCain for supporting deregulation that led to a lack of oversight over the financial system. McCain and Obama have both called for more regulation this week.

On the debate, Obama said McCain did not show that his administration would be significantly different from Bush's on foreign policy.

Schieffer noted that McCain worked to cast Obama as not ready to be president in the debate, and said at several different points that Obama lacked an understanding of economic and foreign policy issues.

“Well, the interesting thing is he kept on asserting I didn't understand, but beyond repeating the line never indicated what exactly I didn't understand,” Obama said. “It's true that I don't understand Sen. McCain's positions on a whole host of issues.”

Asked whether he though McCain was condescending, Obama said McCain used a debating trick “which is to essentially just keep on saying that because of my vast years in Washington, somehow I'm more qualified to be president.”

Obama suggested that voters are interested in change, and that McCain's experience could work against him.

Asked repeatedly whether Sarah Palin, McCain's running mate and Alaska's governor, had the experience to be president, Obama dodged a direct answer and said that was up to the American public to decide. He said he was more concerned that Palin agrees with Bush on foreign policy issues.

McCain appeared to score a point in Friday's debate by questioning Obama's past statements that he would be willing to meet with foreign leaders of countries such as Iran and Cuba with no pre-conditions. Asked about this, Obama said he has repeatedly said he'd reserve the right to meet with any leaders if he believed it would help keep the U.S. safe.