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While speaking in Fairfax, Virginia Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama mocked the comments of McCain advisor Phil Gramm who said that the nation is in a “mental recession”, and that America is a nation of whiners.

“That starts with acknowledging the economic difficulties so many women are facing right now. Senator McCain, however, has said that we’ve made “great progress” on the economy. And Senator Phil Gramm, a top economic advisor to Senator McCain, just recently said that this is merely “a mental recession.” Senator Gramm then deemed the United States – and I quote – “a nation of whiners.” This comes after Senator McCain recently admitted that his energy proposals will have mainly “psychological” benefits,” Obama said.

He continued, “Well, you know, America already has one Dr. Phil. When it comes to the economy, we don’t need another. Let’s be clear, when people are struggling with the rising costs of everything from gas to groceries, when we’ve lost 438,000 jobs over the past six months, when typical families have seen their incomes fall nearly $1,000 since 2000, this economic downturn isn’t in our heads. It isn’t whining to ask for more than just psychological relief.”

As some of you may know, when Phil Gramm was a senator, he was the man responsible for inserting the Enron loophole into a bill in 2000 that allowed for unregulated speculation in the energy futures market. This is much of the reason why gas prices are so high today. Gramm is one of McCain’s top advisors, and his comments reflect just how out of touch the McCain campaign is on the economy.

Even though McCain repudiated Gramm’s comments, a look at his economic proposals reveals that he doesn’t plan to do much of anything about the economy. In fact, he intends to continue to follow, and even expand, the policies of George W. Bush. For rich guys like McCain and Gramm the economy is great, but for those of us who are seeing prices go up and jobs vanish, the situation is dire. McCain has no interest in the economy, and this is reason number one why we should not put him in the White House.

Full Text of Obama’s Remarks

Technorati Tags: 2008 Election Barack Obama Economy John McCain news politics 2008 election mental recession Phil Gramm nation of whiners Barack Obama Fairfax Virginia