Remark dogs McCain

BELLEVILLE, Mich. — Sen. John McCain ventured Thursday to an auto-parts supplier in the hard-hit Detroit suburb of Belleville to express sympathy for those affected by Michigan's economic malaise and to talk up his ideas for creating jobs in the region.

But a day after a top McCain economic adviser dismissed the nation's struggles as a "mental recession," the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's message landed with a thud, as workers sat in stony silence.

McCain was already running into a stiff headwind because of an ailing economy, and his task became tougher after former Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, suggested the United States has "become a nation of whiners."

Gramm, who has helped shape McCain's presidential campaign and is a close friend of the candidate, expressed no regret Thursday for the comments he made in an interview with the Washington Times, saying: "I'm not going to retract any of it. Every word I said was true."

The McCain campaign quickly shifted into damage-control mode, distancing the candidate from his friend's assessment.

Gramm "does not speak for me. I speak for me. I strongly disagree," McCain said in Belleville just as Gramm was wrapping up a discussion with The Wall Street Journal editorial board about the candidate's economic program.

"The person here in Michigan who just lost his job isn't suffering from a mental recession," McCain added. Asked whether Gramm would play a significant role in shaping economic policy in a McCain administration, the senator joked that "I think Senator Gramm would be in serious consideration for ambassador to Belarus, although I'm not sure the citizens of Minsk would welcome that."

Since saying last winter that economic policy is not his strong suit, McCain has struggled to show voters that he understands their pain as they cope with six months of declining payrolls, a bear market on Wall Street, soaring energy and food costs, rising home foreclosures and stagnant economic growth. Gramm's "mental recession" comment didn't help.

The backdrop could not have been worse. The unemployment rate in the Detroit-Livonia-Dearborn area is 10.2 percent. The nation's next closest, 7.1 percent, is in the area around Lawrence and Salem, Mass.

The region lost 47,400 payroll jobs, nearly double the next highest job-loss total, in the Los Angeles-Long Beach area.

In Belleville, McCain repeatedly said he understands how much the Michigan economy had declined.

"America is hurting today. Michigan is hurting today. The automotive industry is hurting," he said at a town-hall meeting. "We have to understand the urgency of the situation, and we should remind ourselves time after time."

But the 100 or so in the crowd sat on their hands throughout most of the speech, especially during his remarks about the need for free trade, a policy that is generally reviled in manufacturing areas. The first question McCain received was from a free-trade critic, who told the candidate that "what we need to do is control some of those trade issues going on. What we want is fair trade."

Gramm defended his statement Thursday, saying, "Look, the economy is bad. It is far below what we Americans have a right to expect, but we are not in a recession."

He added, "when I said we've become a nation of whiners, I'm talking about our leaders. I'm not talking about our people."

Sen. Barack Obama seized on Gramm's comments.

"He said we're in a mental recession. I guess what he meant was it's a figment of our imagination, these high gas prices," Obama told a crowd of more than 2,000 at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, Va. "It's not just a figment of your imagination, it's not all in your heads, when people are struggling with the rising cost of everything from gas to groceries."

Turning to his GOP rival, Obama said: "This comes after Senator McCain recently admitted his energy proposal for the gas-tax holiday will have mainly 'psychological benefits.' "

He added: "Now I want all of you to know that America already has one Dr. Phil, we don't need another. When it comes to the economy, we need somebody who can actually solve the economy."

McCain was almost as harsh about his friend and adviser: "I believe the mother here in Michigan and around America who is trying to get enough money to educate their children isn't whining," he said.