Obama: Economy Sliding Into Recession

By CHRISTOPHER WILLS – 3 hours ago

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — The latest unemployment figures show the nation is "sliding into recession," Democrat Barack Obama said Friday, as he argued he has been the most aggressive presidential candidate in seeking remedies.

His rival Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a written statement. "Perhaps this jobs report will also help John McCain recognize that doing nothing is not an economic strategy in times of urgent need."

The unemployment rate jumped to 5.1 percent in March, the Labor Department reported Friday, and Obama noted the latest figures show the country has lost more than 200,000 jobs this year.

"What I think this indicates is the degree to which our economy has contracted, is sliding into recession," Obama told a town hall meeting here.

He accused President Bush of hurting people with an economic policy "in which basically the answer to every problem is tax cuts for the wealthy."

Obama joined Clinton in deriding the response from McCain, the Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting. McCain simply wants to stand on the sidelines and watch the housing crisis unfold, Obama said.

McCain, in turn, said in a written statement that "it is essential to reduce the burdens on businesses and workers by lowering taxes, streamlining regulation, tackling health care costs, opening markets to American goods and helping those workers in need."

"Today's news also underlines the need to focus on innovation, which grows the economy and creates an urgent need for effective worker retraining," McCain added. He said Democratic proposal would hamper economic growth.

Claiming he has been ahead of Clinton on critical proposals, Obama said he called two years ago for a crackdown on predatory lending that fueled the nation's housing problems. He boasted that he was the first presidential candidate to call for a middle-class tax cut and the first to seek a tax rebate as part of an economic stimulus package.

He said Clinton's criticism that he has been timid and unenthusiastic on the economy is "an example of some of the silliness that has been coming out of the political season."

Clinton's statement reiterated her claim that "for more than a year I have been like Paulette Revere" trying to prevent housing problems from harming the overall economy.

"When Wall Street faced crisis, we saw swift and creative action and a $30 billion lifeline for Bear Stearns. Today's jobs report confirms that it's time to take equally aggressive action to help American families struggling in our bearish economy," Clinton said.

The New York senator said the jobs report shows a need for additional action. "We must stand ready for the government to purchase at-risk mortgages," Clinton said. "We also need a second stimulus of at least $30 billion to help states and localities fight the foreclosure crisis in their communities."

The nation's economic problems hit close to the Obama campaign this week when the airline ATA suddenly shut down, stranding passengers and laying off workers.

The campaign had been traveling on a chartered ATA plane before switching to a different airline recently. An Obama spokeswoman said an independent charter company arranges the flights and she didn't know whether the switch was made because ATA was about to go under.