A senior adviser to John McCain, presumptive Republican presidential nominee, yesterday played down the economic woes facing Americans, saying the US had become "a nation of whiners" about globalisation.
The remarks by Phil Gramm, a UBS executive and former senator, threatened to undermine attempts by Mr McCain to burnish his economic credentials this week in some of the hardest-hit states in the US, including Ohio and Michigan.
"You've heard of mental depression, this is a mental recession" Mr Gramm said, in an interview with the Washington Times. He added that Americans were misguided by negative re-ports about the economy, even though they had benefited from globalisation.
"We have sort of become a nation of whiners," he said. "You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline" despite an export boom that was the primary cause of continuing growth.
The remarks were immediately attacked by Barack Obama, Mr McCain's Democratic opponent. "It isn't whining to ask government to step in and give families some relief," he told a town hall meeting in Fairfax, -Virginia.
Mr McCain rejected the comments at a press conference yesterday.
Asked whether Mr Gramm would be considered for a senior position in a McCain administration, he said: "I think Senator Gramm would be in serious consideration for ambassador of Belarus, though I'm not sure the -citizens of Minsk would -welcome that."
*John McCain raised more than $22m (£11m) in June, his best fundraising performance of the year, ending the month with nearly $27m in cash on hand, AP reports from Washington .
