Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama engaged in sharp exchanges on the faltering U.S. economy Tuesday night in the second presidential debate.
McCain pledged to require the federal government to renegotiate the mortgages of individual homeowners and make them more affordable, a sweeping proposal to help families in the grip of a financial crisis.
"It is my proposal. It's not Sen. Obama's proposal. It's not President Bush's proposal," McCain said.
Obama said the current economic crisis was the "final verdict on the failed economic policies of the last eight years" that President Bush pursued and were "supported by Sen. McCain."
Obama said Bush, McCain and others had favored policies to deregulate the financial industry, "let markets run wild and prosperity would rain down on all of us. It didn't happen."
The 90-minute encounter at Belmont University was moderated by NBC's Tom Brokaw and included questions on both foreign and domestic policy raised by the audience and voters participating through the Internet.
As the debate unfolded, Obama and McCain also competed to demonstrate their qualifications as reformers at a time voters are clamoring for change.
McCain accused Obama of being the Senate's second-highest recipient of donations from individuals at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two now-disgraced mortgage industry giants.
"There were some of us who stood up against this," McCain said. "There were others who took a hike."
Obama shot back that McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, has a stake in a Washington lobbying firm that received thousands of dollars a month from Freddie Mac until recently.
Pivoting quickly to show his concern with members of the audience listening from a few feet away, he said, "You're not interested in politicians pointing fingers. You're interested in the impact on you."
But that didn't stop the two men from criticizing one another repeatedly as the topics turned to energy, spending, taxes and health care.
Obama said McCain was going to require taxes on the health benefits workers receive from their employers at the same time his plan would wipe out the ability of states to enforce their own regulations to require tests such as mammograms.
McCain countered that under his rival's plan "Sen. Obama will fine you" if parents fail to obtain coverage for their children but had yet to say what the fine would be. "Perhaps we will find that out tonight," he said.
Obama quickly followed up, saying that McCain "voted against the expansion" of the children's health care program the government runs.
The two men prefer dramatically different approaches to easing the problem of millions of uninsured Americans. McCain favors a $5,000 tax credit that he says would allow families to find and afford health care on their own.
Obama wants to build on the current system, in which millions receive coverage through the workplace, with government funding to help uninsured families obtain coverage.
McCain's pledge to have the government help individual homeowners avoid foreclosure went considerably beyond the $700 billion bailout that recently cleared Congress.
"I would order the secretary of the Treasury to immediately buy up the bad home loan mortgages in America and renegotiate at the new value of those homes at the diminished value of those homes and let people be able to make those payments and stay in their homes," he said.
"Is it expensive? Yes. But we all know, my friends, until we stabilize home values in America, we're never going to start turning around and creating jobs and fixing our economy, and we've got to get some trust and confidence back to America."
McCain also said it was important to reform the giant benefit programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.
"My friends, we are not going to be able to provide the same benefit for present-day workers that present-day retirees have today," he said, although he did not elaborate.
The debate was being held at a time most Americans have a dismal view of the country's direction.
A Gallup Poll released Tuesday showed just 9 percent say they're satisfied with the way things are going, the lowest ever recorded in the 29 years Gallup has asked the question. Asked to name the country's major problem, 69 percent said the economy. Next closest: 11 percent cited the Iraq war.
Lansing Mayor Virg Bernero 11/21
One of Michigan's most outspoken supporters of federal aid for Detroit's Big 3 continues to be Lansing mayor Virg Bernero, and he joined Joe Donovan and Roberta Jasina this morning--as heard live on WWJ.
Diversity Works
When distinctive faith traditions and cultures celebrate Thanksgiving together, their sense of gratitude is deepened.
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