Credit crisis deal deadlock; Talks between Bush and rivals stall

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), Sept 26, 2008

A DEAL to solve the US financial crisis will happen "eventually" after an emergency meeting at the White House ended without an agreement, Barack Obama said today.

The discussions between President George Bush and the two presidential candidates just 40 days before the presidential election, was thought to be unprecedented in US history.

The president has said a EUR700bn rescue plan needs to be agreed "immediately" if the US was to avoid a "financial panic" and a "long and painful recession".

Many political pundits believed the talks would result in a deal after Democrat and Republican negotiators reached a "fundamental agreement on a set of principles" earlier in the day.

But those who took part in the meeting left saying that no agreement had been reached.

"I think eventually we're going to get a deal,"

Mr Obama said.

"I think there's still some work that needs to be done."

He added that the US "should not have been in this crisis in the first place" and said it was a consequence of "reckless behaviour on Wall Street" and "regulators being asleep at the switch".

Mr Obama added there needed to be a "sense of urgency" from everyone involved.

"The concern that I have, and one of the concerns that I've had over the last several days, is that when you start injecting presidential politics into delicate negotiations, then you can actually create more problems.

"It's amazing how much you can get done when the cameras aren't on and noones looking to get credit or allocate blame. I think that both myself and Senator McCain need to be very careful how we inject ourselves into this process."

CAPTION(S):

URGENCY: America's Barack Obama