Obama blames economy on Bush, Wall St.
WASHINGTON - Democrat Barack Obama yesterday blamed "irresponsible decisions" by the Bush administration and Wall Street for U.S. economic woes, on a day that government officials said the budget deficit would soar to record heights next year.
WASHINGTON - Democrat Barack Obama yesterday blamed "irresponsible decisions" by the Bush administration and Wall Street for U.S. economic woes, on a day that government officials said the budget deficit would soar to record heights next year.
Obama met with more than a dozen economic advisers, appearing with them briefly before retreating for a two-hour closed meeting.
"It was not an accident or a normal part of the business cycle that led us to this situation," he said. "There were some irresponsible decisions that were made on Wall Street and in Washington."
Obama said the economy needed both short- and long-term fixes, including another round of stimulus measures from Congress, plus a longer-term focus on renewable energy to curb high gas prices and on universal health care to trim costs. He said he would move "rapidly and vigorously" to respond.
At the meeting were AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker, former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, Google chairman and CEO Eric Schmidt, and New Jersey's Gov. Corzine, who formerly headed the Wall Street investment firm Goldman Sachs. Billionaire investor Warren Buffett joined via speaker phone.
Republican John McCain said the culprit for the deficit was the administration's wasteful spending.
"There is no more striking reminder of the need to reverse the profligate spending that has characterized this administration's fiscal policy," McCain said in a statement.
"As president, I have committed to balancing the budget by the end of my first term," McCain said.
- AP
McCain has spot of skin removed
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Three-time melanoma survivor John McCain had a spot of skin removed from his right cheek early yesterday.
A campaign official said that the Republican had his routine three-month checkup and that his doctor removed the spot as a precaution. The official said that McCain is fine and that his doctor said there was no reason to worry.
McCain sported a small bandage near his right temple as he campaigned in California. The fair-skinned Arizona senator, who suffered severe sun damage from his years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam, gets an in-depth skin-cancer check every few months because of a medical history of dangerous melanomas.
- AP
Obama to attend event in Hawaii
HONOLULU - Barack Obama plans to travel to his native Hawaii for a fund-raising event Aug. 12.
The Democrat's presidential campaign confirmed the visit but did not say how long he would be in the islands. The trip is the first time since Obama announced he was running that he is visiting Hawaii, where his maternal grandmother lives. Obama was born in Honolulu.
Obama has said he intends to take a weeklong vacation before the Democratic National Convention in Denver in late August.
- AP
McCain meeting concerns China
BEIJING - China said yesterday that it was concerned about a meeting between John McCain and the Dalai Lama, saying Americans should realize that the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader was trying to split the country.
McCain and the Dalai Lama met for 45 minutes Friday in Aspen, Colo. McCain called on China to release Tibetan prisoners and account for any people who disappeared during an uprising earlier this year in Tibet and surrounding areas.
China opposes anyone's use of the Dalai Lama to interfere in its internal affairs, Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a notice on the ministry's Web site.
The Dalai Lama praised McCain for his concern but emphasized he wasn't endorsing McCain's presidential bid. The Dalai Lama was in Aspen for a symposium.
- AP
