McCain, Obama call for more oversight of bailout

Both major presidential candidates are talking again today about the Wall Street crisis, putting out their own proposals and calling for more oversight of the $700 billion bailout plan.

Republican John McCain told voters in Scranton, Pa., that the priorities for any rescue plan should be "keeping people in their homes" and "safeguarding life savings" of Americans.

McCain also called for more oversight of the proposed bailout, which the Bush administration says would cost $700 billion, but which outside analysts say could cost $1 trillion.

The Arizona senator said he talked over the weekend to Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and respects him, but does not want to give Paulson so much power.

"This arrangement makes me deeply uncomfortable," McCain said. "When we're talking about $1 billion in taxpayers money, trust me isn't good enough."

He called for a bipartisan oversight board and suggested that former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, investor Warren Buffet, and New York mayor Michael Bloomberg would be good candidates.

UPDATE: Romney said it was "speculative" to say whether he would serve on a board that hasn't been created yet.

"It's an honor to be mentioned," he said on CNN this afternoon, but the idea is more important.

But Barack Obama's economic adviser, Austan Goolsbee, said Romney was a non-starter for such an oversight board. "His record of job growth... was not super-stellar," Goolsbee said on CNN.

McCain criticized Obama for declining so far to put forth a plan of his own. "We don't have time to wait for Senator Obama's input to act," McCain said.

He didn't have to wait long.

In Green Bay, Wisc., this afternoon Obama delivered a "major policy address to lay out his plan to reform the greed and excesses of Washington so that we never face an economic crisis like this again," his campaign said.

"He'll reform our politics by taking power away from the lobbyists who kill good ideas and good plans with secret meetings and campaign checks. He'll reform our government by taking on the spending habits of both parties and going after the tax havens and loopholes that big corporations use to avoid paying their fare share while you pay more. And he will reform our out-dated, unfair regulatory system that favors Wall Street over Main Street but has ended up hurting both."

Obama has also called for more oversight to make sure taxpayers are protected, and has also called for more help for struggling homeowners.

Obama, in his speech in Green Bay, sought to wrap himself in the legacy of famous Wisconsin progressive "Fighting Bob" La Follette.

"If we want a government that puts the needs of middle-class families before the whims of lobbyists and politicians, if we want to grow this economy and prevent a crisis like this from ever happening again, then the ways of Washington must change," Obama said, according to prepared remarks. "We must reform our lobbyist-driven politics. We must reform the waste and abuse in our government. We must reform the rules of the road that let Wall Street run wild and stuck Main Street with the bill. We must change Washington now."

He also kept up his offensive against McCain over McCain's support for deregulation. "Even knowing what we know now, Senator McCain said in an interview just last night that de-regulation actually helped grow our economy. Well that might be true for the profits of a few CEOs, but it’s certainly not true for America’s prosperity," Obama said.