No more hugging as Obama tears into McCain

RENO, Nev. - So much for hugging in church.

A day after Barack Obama and John McCain exchanged an embrace during a faith forum at a California megachurch, Obama called the US economy a disaster because of "John McCain's president, George W. Bush," and chided his Republican rival's campaign team for trying to make him look unpatriotic and weak.

At a town hall meeting with several hundred union members, Obama said he had had a great conversation with McCain at the forum at Saddleback Church sponsored by the popular evangelical pastor Rick Warren. The two candidates shook hands, briefly hugged, and stood onstage with Warren, the first time they appeared together in public since the end of the primary season.

But yesterday, after praising the Arizona senator as a "genuine American patriot," the Democratic presidential hopeful got back to business - methodically tearing into McCain's healthcare, tax, and energy policies.

"McCain says, 'Here's my plan, I'm going to drill here, drill now, which is something he only came up with two months ago when he started looking at polling," Obama said of McCain's energy policy.

The GOP hopeful has become a vocal proponent of offshore oil drilling as a way to ease dependence on foreign oil and has criticized Obama for failing to embrace it as a way to help bring down oil prices. Obama noted that McCain had long opposed lifting the ban on offshore drilling.

The Illinois senator also criticized McCain's advisers as "the same old folks that brought you George W. Bush." He noted many had been lobbyists in Washington. Obama added, "They say this other guy is unpatriotic, or this guy likes French people. That's what they said about Kerry," referring to the 2004 Democratic nominee who lost narrowly to Bush. "They try to make it out like Democrats aren't tough enough, aren't macho enough. It's the same strategy."