Obama hits McCain on Bush fundraiser
Posted: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 5:32 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under:
White House
From NBC/NJ's Athena Jones
NORTH LAS VEGAS -- In the latest iteration of his McCain-is-the-next-George-Bush argument, Obama used the news that the president will be at a few fundraisers for McCain this week to suggest the presumptive GOP nominee would be a carbon copy of the president on matters from foreign policy to the economy.
Obama contrasted the morning he spent with a Las Vegas area family struggling to make their mortgage payments with McCain’s fundraiser with Bush tonight. And he also made light of the fact that these fundraisers -- the Arizona senator appears with Bush at one out of the three events -- were closed to press.
“I had the privilege of visiting Felicitas and Francisco’s home in Las Vegas earlier this morning. Today, John McCain is having a different kind of meeting. He’s holding a fundraiser with George Bush behind closed doors in Arizona. No cameras, no reporters, and we all know why. Sen. McCain doesn’t want to be seen, hat in hand, with the president whose failed policies he promises to continue for another four years,” Obama said. “On issue after issue, John McCain is offering more of the same policies that have failed for the last eight years. That’s the agenda that he and the president are raising money to support later today.”
A few more than 100 people took part in today town hall on the home mortgage crisis -- a hot topic in a state hit hard by foreclosures. Obama gave an overview of his plans for helping struggling homeowners. He criticized McCain again as weak on the economy and for his proposals for addressing the foreclosure crisis.
“For months, John McCain struggled to come up with a real plan to address the housing crisis, even as millions of Americans faced the nightmare of not being able to make their next payments,” he said. "It took him three tries to come up with the answer for struggling homeowners and he still came up short. And Sen. McCain is so out of touch with the struggles of working people that he gave a speech laying out his economic agenda last week, and he couldn’t even be bothered to talk about the foreclosure crisis that has put so many families on the brink of financial catastrophe and put our economy on the brink or in recession. We’ve had enough of the can’t do, won’t do ,and won’t even try approach from George Bush and John McCain.”
McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds responded with this statement: "Whether it’s fighting wasteful government spending, addressing global climate change or advocating a more effective strategy in Iraq, John McCain has clear but respectful differences of opinions with the President. However, it isn’t surprising that Barack Obama is trying to disguise his lack of depth and weak leadership on economic issues with political generalizations and partisan attacks. John McCain has introduced a solutions based plan targeting the mortgage crisis, and today he launched campaign advertisements in key swing-states highlighting his intentions to fight foreclosures, but that didn’t stop Barack Obama from making a misinformed political attack."
Bounds added, "When Barack Obama’s best ideas include nearly $50 billion of taxpayer money with no guarantee that it won’t end up in the hands of speculators, and tax hikes on small businesses that provide the paying jobs Americans need, it’s clear that he just isn’t ready to lead our economy.”
Obama called on Bush not to veto a bill put forth by Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank that would help homeowners in part by allowing the Federal Housing Administration to back refinanced mortgages with lowered principals.
"The president has threatened to veto this approach," he said. "Well, it’s time to stand up to George Bush and tell him to stop standing in the way of meaningful relief for working people. Congress must pass this bill. The president should sign it and the FHA should start implementing it this fall. We can’t wait any longer. It’s time for Washington to start acting now.”
Obama’s trip to Nevada, a state Clinton won in January (although Obama won more delegates in it), is part of a swing through western states he hopes to put in play in the general election should he be the nominee. He was in New Mexico yesterday and will campaign in Colorado tomorrow. Bush won all three states in 2004, but Democrats have made recent gains in Nevada.
