Obama, back on trail, hits McCain on economy

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent

RENO, Nevada (Reuters) - Democrat Barack Obama, back on the campaign trail on Saturday after an emotional trip to Hawaii, blasted White House rival John McCain for backing the Republican fiscal policies that led to an economic crisis.

At a campaign stop in normally Republican Nevada, where polls show him running slightly ahead of McCain, Obama expanded on a favourite theme: That McCain would be an economic clone of President George W. Bush.

He criticized McCain for saying again on Friday that government should ease its regulations on business and mocked the senator from neighbouring Arizona for saying Bush's economic policies had gotten "out of hand."

"Let's be clear: John McCain attacking George Bush for his out-of-hand economic policy is like (Vice President) Dick Cheney attacking George Bush for his go-it-alone foreign policy," Obama told about 11,000 supporters at a chilly morning rally at the University of Nevada in Reno.

He said Bush did not seem offended, since he voted on Friday for McCain.

"And that's no surprise, because when it comes to the policies that matter for middle-class families, there's not an inch of daylight between George Bush and John McCain," Obama said.

Obama noted McCain had met with small business owners on Friday in Colorado and said afterward they wanted "lower taxes and less government regulation" of their businesses.

"None of us want to see unnecessary burdens on business. But after what we've seen on Wall Street, isn't it obvious by now that we need some common-sense rules of the road to protect consumers and our economy?" Obama said.