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Democrat Barack Obama proposed more immediate steps Monday to heal the nation’s ailing economy including a 90-day moratorium on home foreclosures at some banks and a two-year tax break for businesses that create new jobs.

With the economic turmoil weighing down his Republican presidential rival, Obama also proposed allowing people to withdraw up to $10,000 from their retirement accounts without any penalty this year and next.

The Democratic presidential candidate said his proposals, with a price tag of $60 billion over two years, can be enacted quickly, either through the government’s regulatory powers or legislation that Congress could pass in a special session after the election.

“I’m proposing a number of steps that we should take immediately to stabilize our financial system, provide relief to families and communities and help struggling homeowners,” Obama told a crowd of 3,000. “It’s a plan that begins with one word that’s on everyone’s mind, and it’s spelled J-O-B-S.”

Obama delivered his economic message in Toledo, a struggling blue-collar city in a state that could be critical to Obama’s presidential hopes. Polls show a close race between Obama and Republican John McCain in Ohio, which decided the 2004 presidential election. At stake are 20 electoral votes.

His call for action comes just two days before the final debate of the presidential race and at a time when McCain is sending mixed signals about how he’ll address the economy.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a key McCain adviser, said Sunday the Republican candidate was considering a proposal to reduce taxes on investment, including a possible cut in capital gains taxes, but McCain offered no new economic proposals when he gave a new stump speech Monday morning promising a change in direction from the economic policies of President Bush.

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds accused Obama of planning to raise taxes if elected, something that would “have a devastating effect” on the already-troubled economy.

Obama’s plan calls for raising taxes only on the 5 percent of people who make more than $250,000 a year. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that under Obama’s approach the wealthiest 1 percent of taxpayers would see their taxes go up on average by $93,709 in 2009, For McCain, those same wealthy taxpayers would see an average reduction of $48,860.

Obama is proposing tax cuts for those making less than $200,000 a year.

Obama’s latest proposals are in addition to other policies the Illinois senator has already offered as the stock market struggles, financial institutions wobble and tight credit chokes the economy.

Obama supported the $700 billion Wall Street bailout plan and endorsed the latest twist on it: the government buying ownership in major banks and partially nationalizing them to keep them afloat. He also calls for tax breaks for most families, cutting capital gains taxes for investment in small business and extending unemployment benefits.

Obama proposed Monday that banks participating in the federal bailout should temporarily postpone foreclosures for families making good-faith efforts to pay their mortgage.

“We need to give people the breathing room they need to get back on their feet,” he said, adding that families living beyond their means share some of the responsibility.

“Part of the reason this crisis occurred, if we’re honest with ourselves, is that everyone was living beyond their means — from Wall Street to Washington to even some on Main Street,” Obama said.

He also called for a $3,000 tax credit for each additional full-time job a business creates. That means a business that adds five jobs would get a $15,000 break. That would end after 2010 and would cost $40 billion, the campaign estimates.

Obama proposes letting people withdraw up to 15 percent of their retirement funds, to a maximum of $10,000, without the penalty that now applies to early or excess withdrawals. The change would apply retroactively to all of 2008, as well as 2009. People would still have to pay normal taxes on the money. He said letting people dip into their IRAs and 401(k)s would help them get through tough times when money is tight.

State and local governments face a money crunch, too, and Obama called for new federal short-term loans to help them through the crisis. He called it a “funding backstop” to ensure that states and cities can meet payroll or keep projects moving.

He ended the speech with a call for people to unite and make sacrifices, as America did during the Great Depression, until the economy is back on track.

“Together, we cannot fail. Not now. Not when we have a crisis to solve and an economy to save. Not when there are so many Americans without jobs and without homes,” Obama said. “We can do this because we’ve done it before.”

Barack Obama turned to a team of advisers that shaped America’s economy in happier days to fashion fresh ideas for calming the stomach-churning financial crisis that has thundered from Wall Street to Main Street.

Some of the most respected names in the business world were pitching in Friday, including billionaire investor Warren Buffett, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, former Treasury secretaries Robert Rubin, Lawrence Summers and Paul O’Neill and Laura Tyson, former head of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton.

Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee, was to meet with advisers in Coral Gables, Fla., on the campus of the University of Miami and then announce his new proposals. Buffett and O’Neill and perhaps others were to participate by way of a telephone conference call.

Less than seven weeks before Election Day, the high-profile consultations appeared designed to portray Obama in a presidential-like setting, grappling with the nation’s gravest problems and making decisions with the help of a big-name team of experts.

Republican rival John McCain has charged that Obama is too inexperienced to sit in the Oval Office. Friday’s meeting was tailored to show that McCain is wrong. But at the end of the day, Obama’s proposals will be campaign fodder as opposed to the real bailout plan taking shape in Washington to rescue banks from bad debt.

“This is not a time for fear, it’s not a time for panic,” Obama said Thursday in New Mexico. “This is a time for resolve and it is a time for leadership.”

The anxious focus on the economy is an advantage for Obama because McCain-ally President Bush has set the nation’s economic priorities for the last eight years with tax cuts, global trade deals and a veto-pen threat over Democratic initiatives. On the campaign trail, Obama relentlessly tries to tie McCain with the unpopular Bush.

Briefly outlining his proposals, Obama said he would call for a Homeowner and Financial Support Act “that would establish a more stable and permanent solution than the daily improvisations that have characterized policy-making over the past year.”

He said his measures would provide capital to the financial system, insure liquidity to allow the financial markets to function and “get serious about helping struggling families to restructure their mortgages on affordable terms so they can stay in their homes.”

Obama also mocked McCain’s promise to fire the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission if elected.

“I think that’s all fine and good but here’s what I think,” Obama said. “In the next 47 days you can fire the whole trickle-down, on-your-own, look-the-other way crowd in Washington who has led us down this disastrous path.

“Don’t just get rid of one guy. Get rid of this administration,” he said. “Get rid of this philosophy. Get rid of the do-nothing approach to our economic problem and put somebody in there who’s going to fight for you.”

Obama came up with yet another way to poke fun at McCain for his comment Monday that the fundamentals of the economy were strong. “This comment was so out of touch that even George Bush’s White House couldn’t agree with it when they were asked about it. They had to distance themselves from John McCain.”

Bush has used the same language many times but his press secretary would not repeat the line Wednesday in the face of historic financial turbulence.

Obama had telephone discussions Thursday about the financial markets with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Fed chief Paul Volcker and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers.

Saying that McCain strongly advocated deregulation and then changed his mind, Obama said, “We can’t afford to lurch back and forth between positions depending on the latest news of the day when dealing with an economic crisis.

“We need some clear and steady leadership and that’s why I was ahead of the curve in calling for regulation,” he said. “And that’s why I’m calling on the Treasury and the Federal Reserve to use their emergency authorities to maintain the flow of credit, to support the availability of mortgages and to ensure that our financial system is well capitalized.”

In response, McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds said, “When Barack Obama came to Washington, he chose to strengthen his ties to spiraling lenders like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and their jet-set CEOs, not make change. The American people cannot afford leadership that puts a higher premium on campaign contributions than protecting hardworking Americans.”

Hackers broke into the Yahoo! e-mail account that Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin used for official business as Alaska’s governor, revealing as evidence a few inconsequential personal messages she has received since John McCain selected her as his running mate.

“This is a shocking invasion of the governor’s privacy and a violation of law. The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these e-mails will destroy them,” the McCain campaign said in a statement.

The Secret Service contacted The Associated Press on Wednesday and asked for copies of the leaked e-mails, which circulated widely on the Internet. The AP did not comply.

The disclosure Wednesday raises new questions about the propriety of the Palin administration’s use of nongovernment e-mail accounts to conduct state business. The practice was revealed months ago — prior to Palin’s selection as a vice presidential candidate — after political critics obtained internal e-mails documenting the practice by some aides.

One person whose e-mail to Palin apparently was among those disclosed, Amy B. McCorkell, declined to discuss her correspondence. “I do not know anything about it,” McCorkell said. “I’m not giving you any comment.” Wired.com said McCorkell later confirmed that she did send the e-mail to Palin.

Another of the e-mails apparently revealed Wednesday was an exchange in July with Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell discussing a talk show host who had been critical of Parnell. Parnell declined to discuss the matter.

Palin herself used “gov.sarah” in one of her e-mail addresses, but the hackers targeted her “gov.palin” account. Her husband used “fek9wnr” in his address. “Fe” is the representation for iron, and “k9″ is an abbreviation for canine. Todd Palin was the winner of the grueling Iron Dog snowmobile race, and “fek9wnr” also is Todd Palin’s vehicle license tag in Alaska.

It wasn’t immediately clear how hackers broke into Palin’s Yahoo! account, but it would have been possible to trick the service into revealing her password knowing personal details about Palin that include her birthdate and ZIP code. A hacker also might have sent a forged e-mail to her account tricking her into revealing her own password.

McCorkell was appointed by Palin to an advisory board on issues involving alcohol and drug abuse. One of the leaked e-mails suggested McCorkell wrote to Palin on Sunday to say she was praying for Palin. “Don’t let the negative press get you down!” the message said.

President George W. Bush will not attend the Republican convention and will instead address the assembly via satellite so he can oversee the federal response to Hurricane Gustav, the White House said on Sunday.

“The president and vice president decided not to travel to Minnesota due to the hurricane,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters. “We are working on alternate plans.”

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 U.S. economy a disaster thanks to “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 Sunday, after praising the Arizona senator as a “genuine American patriot,” the Democratic presidential hopeful got back to business — methodically tearing into McCain’s health care, tax and energy policies and criticizing his advisers.

“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 U.S. 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 moratorium on offshore drilling.

The Illinois senator also criticized McCain’s advisers as “the same old folks that brought you George W. Bush. The same team.” He noted many had been lobbyists in Washington before McCain asked them to sever all lobbying ties.

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.”

Earlier this summer, McCain handed day to day operation of his campaign to Steve Schmidt, a veteran GOP strategist who was a spokesman for Bush during the 2004 campaign. Most of his other top advisers are longtime loyalists who have worked for McCain for years.

Even so, Obama stepped to McCain’s defense when a voter criticized his Vietnam era record. A Naval aviator, McCain spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war there after being shot down and badly wounded.

“Respectfully I’m going to disagree with you on McCain and his service,” Obama said. “I think his service was honorable. He deserves respect.”

The United States challenged Russia to keep its word to end a crushing invasion of U.S.-backed Georgia, siding decisively with the former Soviet republic and rejecting Russian justifications.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, headed for emergency meetings on the crisis in Europe and in the Georgian capital, said Russia’s six-day-old military action in Georgia is a throwback to darker Cold War times.

“The message is that Russia has perhaps not accepted that it is time to move on from the Cold War and it is time to move to a new era in which relations between states are on the basis of equality, and sovereignty and economic integration,” Rice said Wednesday.

The Bush administration is reeling from the near collapse of its closest friend among the former Soviet republics, a strategic Black Sea nation that is an emerging pathway for undeveloped energy reserves and that has worn its zeal for America and the West as a badge of honor.

As the United States mustered humanitarian aid for Georgia, President Bush demanded that Russia end all military activity inside its neighbor and withdraw all troops sent in recent days onto Georgian territory.

Bush announced that U.S. military assets and personnel would be deploying into the conflict zone. Though they are only going on a humanitarian mission, he made a point of noting that “we will use U.S. aircraft, as well as naval forces” to distribute supplies. He warned Russia not to impede relief efforts in any way.

All this appeared designed to answer criticism that Bush has not done enough to stand by his 2005 pledge, made from the center of Tbilisi before tens of thousands of citizens, to “stand with” the people of Georgia.

Amid some fear that Russian troops may be setting up for some type of medium-term occupation of parts of Georgia or even have intentions to press on to its capital of Tbilisi, Bush promised Wednesday to “rally the free world in the defense of a free Georgia.”

The president sent Rice to France for meetings Thursday with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has led the European pressure campaign on Russia. Speaking in grave tones in the Rose Garden, Bush decried Moscow’s apparent violation of a cease-fire agreement.

He demanded that Russia “keep its word and act to end this crisis.”

“The United States stands with the democratically elected government of Georgia and insists that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia be respected,” he said.

The president postponed Thursday’s planned start of a two-week Texas vacation for a couple of days to monitor developments.

A Russian military convoy defied a cease-fire agreement Wednesday and rolled through a strategically important city in Georgia, where officials claimed fresh looting and bombing by the Russians and their allies.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry said Thursday that more Russian troops had moved into the city of Gori after a withdrawal had appeared to be under way earlier in the day. Ministry spokeswoman Nato Chikovani said Russian troops also moved into the Black Sea oil port city of Poti, from which they had appeared to leave earlier.

Russia and its small neighbor had agreed Tuesday to a French-brokered cease-fire to end the dispute that began over two pro-Russian breakaway territories. The United States accuses Russia of pressing the war far beyond the initial conflict zone and threatening the democratically elected government in Georgia.

“I have to say that the reports are not encouraging about Russia’s respect for this cease-fire,” Rice said.

U.S. officials have had difficulty determining exactly what’s happening on the ground in Georgia, despite considerable intelligence resources. U.S. spy satellites have been repositioned to refocus on the conflict area.

Rice said Moscow is harming its standing in the world and eligibility for global clubs whose eligibility depends on responsible behavior, but she made no explicit threats about U.S. retaliation.

“This is not 1968 and the invasion of Czechoslovakia where Russia can threaten its neighbors, occupy a capital, overthrow a government and get away with it,” Rice said. “Things have changed.”

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1. Absolutely!!

2. No. The President needs to be intelligent and powerful enough not to be a puppet.

3. Nope.

4. Oh my god no. She is the freakiest person I ever heard of. She makes absolutely no sense when she talks. She speaks in that government speak and does not make any sense. Have I mentioned she makes no sense?

5. Possibly, a black woman being president would be GREAT, but I don’t think there’s a chance she would ever run. She does seem to agree with EVERYTHING Bush does, other than that I think she could handle the job.

6. From what I have seen of her, I would seriously consider her as a viable candidate.

7. I would sooner vote for Condie than for Hillary

8. Helllllllllllllllllllllll Nooooooooooooooooooo!

9. It depends on who she ran against but she is definitely very highly regarded by me.

10. nope…no way …not a frig’n shot, she’s as bad as bush and darth cheney

11. Possibly, yes. IMHO, she’s the most qualified woman in America. However, she has never held an elected position in government. I say that she’d be a good VP running mate for the republican party … that would get Hillary’s and the democrat party’s panties in a bunch!

12. I would vote for her before I would Hillary Clinton. And with the way she handling foreign relations and the mid-eastern peace talks I think she would make a good president.

13. Maybe, depend on the other choice

14. She was so weak as the national security adviser and the Secretary of state that Donald Rumsfeld and the defense department bullied their way in to dictating what state department policy should be.

She would be a weak president.

15. depends on her stances and ideals, but i wouldn’t out right rule it out.

16. You bet. It’s nice to have a leader with class. And she’s tough and is a good speaker.

Joey, what a great idea!

17. No, since I never voted for her in anything in the first place. I want to know who the People get to nominate? All we get is a premade selection of choices that I would never make in the first place.

Theodore Roosevelt bull moose/republican party.

People’s opinions on what defines relevant news varies, and objective presentation, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. Hyperbole is maligned by some, praised by others. It’s less a matter of what is objective than it is of who can determine what is objective.

Journalists have the duty to seek and present the truth, so inherently they must question authority, but their questioning must be based on contrary information, or to inquiry about verification. Challenging authority should never be about egos. Illegitimate questions come at the expense of integrity.