Obama and McCain Express Cautious Support for Bailout

Barack Obama speaks in Detroit. Obama said John McCain's support for deregulation helped cause the financial crisis. (By Alex Brandon -- Associated Press)

And an Obama spokesman sent out e-mails to reporters noting that, while lawmakers and congressional staff members worked into Saturday night to hammer out the deal, McCain was at CityZen, one of Washington's priciest restaurants.

"After taking 22 hours to get from New York to Washington to pull a pointless political stunt, McCain spent yesterday working the phones -- from his campaign headquarters across the river from the Capitol," said Damien LaVera, a spokesman for the Democratic National Committee.

Campaigning in Detroit, Obama continued to attack McCain, saying the Republican's backing of deregulation laws helped cause the economic crisis.

"You can't make up for 26 years in 26 days," Obama told a crowd of more than 15,000 at a rally in downtown Detroit. "For most of the 26 years, he's been against the common-sense rules and regulations that could have stopped this problem."

And he mocked McCain's initial response to the crisis. "His first response to the greatest financial meltdown in generations was a Katrina-like response," Obama said. "He sort of stood there, said, 'The fundamentals of the economy are strong.' "

Throughout Friday's debate, McCain suggested that Obama didn't "understand" a number of issues, a charge Obama tossed back at his opponent yesterday.

"No, I understand -- you want more of the same," he said, referring to McCain's embrace of some policies advocated by the Bush administration. "A fifth-grader could understand it's more of the same."

A McCain spokesman responded that Obama had "ignored his record of opposing middle-class tax relief" during the rally.

"Barack Obama voted 94 times in just three years for higher taxes," said spokesman Tucker Bounds.

Palin also sparked some controversy over the weekend by saying in response to a question at a campaign stop that U.S. troops in Afghanistan should cross the border into Pakistan to fight terrorism. "If that's what we have to do to stop the terrorists from coming any further in, absolutely, we should," she answered.

Democrats quickly noted that McCain has criticized Obama for a similar answer, including at Friday's debate. In the appearance on ABC, McCain played down the comment, saying: "She would not . . . she understands and has stated repeatedly that we're not going to do anything except in America's national security interest."

Referring to Palin's critics, he added: "They can complain all they want to. The American people have responded to her in a way that's been wonderful. I'm so happy that she is part of the team."