Heading into the first debate of the fall campaign, John McCain used a speech in Baltimore yesterday to accuse Barack Obama of a pattern of lax leadership.
McCain revived an explosive line of attack against his Democratic rival by claiming that Obama had put his own presidential ambitions ahead of the country's interests.
"Whether it's a reversal in war, or an economic emergency, he reacts as a politician and not as a leader, seeking an advantage for himself instead of a solution for his country," McCain told a gathering National Guard members at the city convention center.
Obama, speaking earlier in North Carolina, blamed the financial crisis on a hands-off approach to economic regulation that McCain has followed, and warned that electing the Republican would mean more of the same.
"We're now seeing the disastrous consequences of this philosophy all around us - on Wall Street as well as Main Street. And yet Senator McCain, who candidly admitted not long ago that he doesn't know as much about economics as he should, wants to keep going down the same, disastrous path," Obama said.
The long-distance exchanges came at the start of one of the most important weeks of the campaign. Both men are jockeying for advantage ahead of Friday's presidential debate, an event both sides regard as pivotal.
As the credit crisis exploded in recent days, Obama moved ahead of McCain in national opinion surveys. The Democrat had a four-point lead in the latest Gallup Daily Tracking poll, released yesterday.
McCain, in his first Maryland public appearance of the general election campaign, sought to turn Obama's cautious response to the financial meltdown against him.
"Senator Obama has declined to put forth a plan," McCain told the National Guard Association annual convention. "At a time of crisis, when leadership is needed, Senator Obama has simply not provided it."
Obama has outlined in general terms his intention, if elected, to toughen regulation and oversight of financial institutions. Yesterday, he joined other Democratic leaders in demanding that Washington provide fresh economic aid to ordinary Americans when it acts on the Bush administration's rescue plan for capital markets and financial institutions.
Congress needs to approve a stimulus plan "that will put money in the pockets of working families, save jobs, and prevent painful budget cuts and tax hikes in our states," Obama said at a campaign event in Charlotte, N.C.
