Obama: McCain 'Katrina-Like' on Economy

Sept. 28, 2008 — -- Presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain gingerly are embracing the bailout deal, with McCain calling it "something that all of us will swallow hard and go forward with."

With the country's attention focused on bailout negotiations at the Capitol, McCain and Obama largely have been sticking to the topic at hand.

The McCain campaign allowed cameras to capture him "working the phones" from his condo in suburban Virginia.

Obama had three rallies this weekend centered on the economy, at which he repeatedly declared, "I think John McCain doesn't get it." At one event, he even accused McCain of a "Katrina-like response" to the financial crisis.

The past few days have been rough for McCain.

He declared Wednesday that he was suspending his campaign to get involved in the bailout talks, a move Democrats and even some Republicans have derided as grandstanding.

On ABC News' "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," McCain was asked how much he actually helped with negotiations.

"I will let you and others ... be the judge of that," he said. "I did the best that I could."

In addition, polls suggested voters felt Obama won the first McCain-Obama debate on Friday.

And on Saturday, McCain's running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, was skewered in a "Saturday Night Live" sketch over an interview she gave to CBS' Katie Couric.

With criticism of Palin mounting, there may be heavy pressure on her to deliver a strong performance during a vice-presidential debate on Thursday.

"There's going to continue to be a little bit of a murmur," said Kevin Madden, a political analyst and former spokesman for Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, "that maybe this was the wrong pick, that maybe she doesn't have the national exposure that's needed to really get through a national campaign ... even among some conservatives."

Meanwhile, Obama kept up the pressure, using the economic crisis as a hammer to pound away at John McCain any chance he got.

"His first response to the greatest financial meltdown in generations was a Katrina-like response," Obama said today in Detroit. "[McCain] sort of stood there, said the 'fundamentals of the economy are strong.'"

The struggles on Wall Street have been seen as an opportunity for Obama because polls say Americans trust him rather than McCain to handle the economy.

Today, he suggested he deserved credit for the bailout compromise worked out in Washington.

"When it comes to protecting taxpayers," Obama said on CBS' "Face the Nation," "I was pushing very hard and involved in shaping those provisions."

But with the bailout plan comes opportunity, McCain hopes. If the plan calms financial markets, it could allow him to re-focus the political debate from the economy to where he wants it: who's better prepared to be commander-in-chief.