At Delco rally, McCain says Obama MIA on rescue plan

At a late-afternoon rally outside the Delaware County Courthouse, Republican presidential candidate John McCain expressed his reservations about the proposed Wall Street bailout plan and criticized Democrat Barack Obama for not coming up with a financial-rescue proposal of his own.

Speaking about the bailout plan being crafted by the Bush administration, McCain said it was not acceptable for the vast sums of money being discussed to be administered and spent solely by the secretary of the Treasury - without any further review.

"We won't solve a problem caused by poor oversight with a plan that calls for no oversight," he told the several thousand enthusiastic supporters who gathered on the streets of Media, many dressed in Republican red.

Obama, speaking in Green Bay, Wis., kept his focus on the economy as well, pledging as president to save the federal government $40 billion by reducing spending on outside contractors by 10 percent.

McCain, who was accompanied in his visit to the region by running mate Sarah Palin, proposed creation of a high-level, bipartisan board to keep watch over the federal bailouts being discussed, which could involve as much as $1 trillion.

As members of such a board, he suggested individuals such as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican; New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent; and investor Warren Buffett, who is backing Obama.

The Arizona senator also said that the legislation creating the bailout fund must include language that prevents the top brass of companies receiving federal assistance from getting rich at taxpayers' expense.

"Senior executives of any firm bailed out by Treasury should not make more than the highest-paid government official," he said. The president makes $400,000.

On Friday, McCain put forward a plan in response to the financial crisis, proposing creation of a Mortgage and Financial Institutions Trust that is not dissimilar to the Bush administration's plan.

Obama did not follow suit, saying on Friday that he did not want to disrupt the efforts ongoing in Washington by making his own specific proposal. He stuck to that position yesterday.

Instead, the Democratic nominee made his proposal for reducing federal spending, laid out the principles that would guide his outlook vis-à-vis the financial community, and embraced the same mantra of accountability that McCain talked about with his oversight board.

Said Obama in Wisconsin: "We cannot give a blank check to Washington with no oversight and accountability, when no oversight and accountability is what got us into this mess in the first place."

In Media, McCain said that Obama's words were not sufficient.

"One week after the crisis began, Sen. Obama has still not offered a plan of any kind," McCain said. "In time of crisis, when leadership is needed, Sen. Obama has been MIA, my friends. That means missing in action."

Earlier in the day, several of Pennsylvania's ranking Democrats reacted to the presence of the Republican ticket by assembling on Independence Mall to announce the formation of a Democratic "truth squad" designed to combat, they said, misrepresentations being made by the McCain campaign.

The squad leader, Gov. Rendell, said that McCain had lied about Obama's tax policy by saying that Obama wanted to raise taxes.

Obama's proposal calls for higher income taxes on individuals making more than $200,000 per year and on families making more than $250,000.

Most other taxpayers would get an income tax cut, $500 for individuals and $1,000 for families, according to the Obama plan - although the McCain campaign argues that Obama will not be able to pay for his campaign promises and deliver on the tax cuts.

What Rendell called "big lie number two" has to do with McCain's portraying himself as a friend of renewable energy. The governor pointed to a series of votes in the Senate over the years in which McCain has opposed measures that would have encouraged the development of renewable energy sources.

Mayor Nutter, who also attended the news conference, added, "The terror many of us feel is that a McCain presidency turns into a Palin presidency, and then we're really in trouble."

No such terror was in evidence at the Republican rally in Media yesterday afternoon when Palin spoke.

"Americans are tired of politics as usual," she told the crowd. ". . . That's why we need to take the maverick of the Senate and put him in the White House."

The day also featured another exchange of commercials between the two campaigns.

McCain's latest entry highlights the Democratic candidate's connections to several figures from Illinois politics including fund-raiser Tony Rezko, a convicted felon. The ad concludes: "With friends like that, Obama is not ready to lead."

Obama's blast focuses on an article written by McCain that talks up the benefits of deregulating the banking industry, touts a similar strategy for health care, and ends with these words: "John McCain: A risk we can't afford to take."

McCain began his day in Scranton, where he attended a town-hall meeting organized by the local Irish American community.

There, he spent much of his time discussing the financial crisis. But he also took time to give a preview of the first presidential debate, which is to take place Friday night in Oxford, Miss., on the subject of foreign policy.

He talked about how the surge strategy, of which he was a leading advocate, had improved the security situation in Iraq, and how Obama, who opposed it, has refused to acknowledge its success.

"He was wrong about Iraq," McCain said. "He was wrong about Georgia. He was wrong about Russia. He was wrong about Iran. And he's not right for America's future national security."