Feb 28, 2008 11:15 am US/Eastern
Obama Warns Of Recession, Blames Bush, McCain
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ―
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Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama (File)
Dave Einsel/Getty Images
Democratic candidate Barack Obama said Thursday the economy is "on the brink of a recession" and blamed economic policies espoused by President Bush and Republican presidential contender John McCain.
Obama mocked a more optimistic economic picture painted by Bush at a White House news conference just moments earlier: "People are struggling in the midst of an economy that George Bush says is not a recession but is experienced differently by folks on the ground."
For the second day in a row, Obama focused on the likely GOP nominee McCain and all but ignored Hillary Clinton's continuing campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination, although key Democratic primaries come up next Tuesday in Texas and Ohio.
"We are not standing on the brink of recession because of forces beyond our control," Obama told a town hall forum in Austin. "This was not an inevitable part of the business cycle. It was a failure of leadership in Washington -- a Washington where George Bush hands out billions of tax cuts to the wealthiest few for eight long years, and John McCain promises to make those same tax cuts permanent, embracing the central principle of the Bush economic program."
In remarks Obama aides suggested were a rebuke to McCain as well as Bush, Obama said more is needed than just "to change faces in the White House," but that the country "needs a change of leadership."
The Illinois senator spoke shortly after Bush told a news conference in Washington that the country is not headed into a recession. While expressing concern about slowing economic growth, Bush rejected for now any additional stimulus efforts.
"We've acted robustly," Bush said. His forecast was rosier than that of many mainstream economists.
Obama offered a sharply different view: "Despite the slogans,we've got millions of Americans that are being left behind."
He said he was "the only candidate in this race to propose a genuine middle-class tax cut." And he added, the nation needs as president a leader who "doesn't defend lobbyists as part of the system, but sees them as part of the problem."
(© 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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