On Economy, Obama Offers Ideas, McCain Blames Rival

Financial Crisis Could Hamper Candidates' Domestic Initiatives
By Dan Balz and Robert Barnes
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, September 20, 2008

MIAMI, Sept. 19 -- As officials in Washington raced to put together a bailout plan for the nation's teetering financial system, Sen. John McCain hammered Sen. Barack Obama as part of the problem while Obama said any rescue should include a new stimulus package for working families.

Gyrating stock markets and the intensity of the discussions in Washington overshadowed the two presidential candidates on Friday. But the winner probably will find that his administration will be deeply affected by the results of what happens over the next few weeks.

Efforts to stabilize the financial system not only could affect the size of the federal budget deficit, but will add another large problem on top of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and make it more difficult for Obama and McCain to make their mark with a big domestic initiative.

With talks moving at a rapid pace in Washington, Obama met in Coral Gables, Fla., with his economic advisers and then strongly endorsed the work of Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Obama said he supported giving the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve the broad authority they need to shore up the system.

But he also renewed his call for Congress to enact a second stimulus package, saying that the current focus on Wall Street should not obscure the pain that working Americans have been feeling all year. Obama said that an injection of money into the economy should be part of immediate steps by the Bush administration and Congress.

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