McCain, Obama Clash on Economy

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Economy, Now Front and Center in '08 Race

As Democrat Barack Obama launches a two-week campaign series focusing on the economy, Republican John McCain fires back, saying Obama is bad for business and will implement large amounts of taxes.

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Each candidate's campaign sees political gain in taking on his opponent's economic plans. McCain aides said that, despite Obama's rhetoric about bringing people together, he has little record of doing so and that his ideas on the economy are those of a typical liberal Democrat. "We're not for increasing spending; that's the other campaign," Holtz-Eakin said.

In an attempt to paint Obama as naive and inexperienced, McCain has also begun invoking the presidency of Jimmy Carter. Former secretary of state Lawrence S. Eagleburger compared Obama to Carter at a fundraiser in Richmond on Monday, and McCain said on NBC Monday night that "It seems like Barack Obama is running for Jimmy Carter's second [term]."

Obama aides, after a bruising battle with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) that offered few policy differences, are eager to hammer McCain on an issue they see as a vulnerability for the Republican. In a speech Monday, Obama repeatedly attacked McCain on the economy by using his words against him.

"John McCain once said that he couldn't vote for the Bush tax breaks in good conscience because they were too skewed to the wealthiest Americans," Obama said. "Later, he said it was irresponsible to cut taxes during a time of war because we simply couldn't afford them. Well, nothing's changed about the war, but something's certainly changed about John McCain."

For much of the next month, Obama plans to set aside the big rallies that came to define his primary campaign in favor of giving detailed speeches to smaller audiences. Aides also said they wanted to portray Obama "listening" to voters, as he did Tuesday when he followed a nurse on her rounds.

Obama has continued the criticism of free-trade agreements and big corporations that marked his primary campaign, and next week, he plans to focus on job creation and trade. He is also casting himself as more fiscally responsible than McCain, arguing that he would balance the budget and that McCain would increase the deficit.

Staff writers Howard Kurtz in St. Louis and Juliet Eilperin and Michael D. Shear in Washington contributed to this report.