Obama Won't Reveal Economic Plan Yet

J. Jennings Moss reports from New York: So Barack Obama supports what Treasury and Fed officials are doing to combat the financial crisis. And this week he put out a two-minute ad talking about the mess and the need for reform, while giving a plug for a page on his web site where people could see his economic plan. But today, he says he's holding off revealing the details of said plan.

"Given the gravity of this situation, and based on conversations I have had with both Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke, I have asked my economic team to refrain from presenting a more detailed blue-print of how an immediate plan might be structured until the Treasury and the Federal Reserve have had an opportunity to present their proposal," Obama said in a statement released today.

While he said that "we must take further bold and decisive action to shore up confidence in our financial markets and avoid a deepening economic crisis," he also said that it was "critical" that the markets and the public have confidence that federal officials' work be "unimpeded by partisan wrangling."

And who thinks partisan politics is playing a role in this? The McCain campaign, for one.

McCain operative Steve Schmidt told reporters Thursday that Obama is "cheerleading this crisis," according to an AP story. Look for the G.O.P. nominee to make the same point on the campaign trail.

J. Jennings Moss

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