Obama's upcoming 'Dr. Phil' shot
Posted: Thursday, July 10, 2008 1:29 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC's Domenico Montanaro
Obama will take a shot at McCain and economic adviser Phil Gramm for his "nation of whiners" comment and downplaying of the country's economic situation, according to his prepared remarks:
VIDEO: In comments made on Thursday, one of John McCain's closest economic advisors, Phil Gramm, called America a "nation of whiners" about the U.S. economy which he says is only suffering from a "mental recession." Newsweek's Jonathan Alter discusses Gramm's comments and some of Gramm's other economic policies.
Senator McCain, however, has said that we've made "great progress" on the economy. And Senator Phil Gramm, a top economic advisor to Senator McCain, just recently said that this is merely "a mental recession." Senator Gramm then deemed the United States -- and I quote -- "a nation of whiners." This comes after Senator McCain recently admitted that his energy proposals will have mainly "psychological" benefits.
Well, you know, America already has one Dr. Phil. When it comes to the economy, we don't need another.
Let’s be clear, when people are struggling with the rising costs of everything from gas to groceries, when we’ve lost 438,000 jobs over the past six months, when typical families have seen their incomes fall nearly $1,000 since 2000, this economic downturn isn’t in our heads. It isn’t whining to ask for more than just psychological relief.
And I think it’s time we had a President who doesn’t deny our problems – or blame the American people for them – but takes responsibility and provides the leadership to solve them. That’s the kind of President I will be.
The point of Obama's talk in Fairfax is on women's issues, and the Illinois senator will also go after McCain on his position on the subject.
McCain is expected to address the Gramm issue at a 1:45 p.m. ET news conference.
