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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sylvester80 who wrote (24490)	6/23/2008 8:36:45 AM
From: ChinuSFO	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

Corzine profile rises in Obama camp Posted by kcocuzzo June 23, 2008 00:05AM In a sign of his emerging role as a financial guru for Barack Obama, Gov. Jon Corzine Sunday unveiled the latest piece of the presidential candidate's plan to curb soaring oil prices. The governor touted an Obama proposal that marked the latest clash between the Democrat and Republican opponent John McCain over energy policy, as voters rank the economy as their biggest concern heading into the November election. In his plan, Obama calls for more regulation in oil markets by promising to close the so-called "Enron loophole" that exempts some energy trading from federal oversight. The rollout also provided a showcase for Corzine, the former Goldman Sachs CEO whom Obama referred to as "our Wall Street guy" at a meeting of Democratic governors in Chicago on Friday. "I can tell you, from my days as a trader of financial assets, the volatility you see is absolutely indicative of speculation in the marketplace," Corzine said on a conference call with reporters and Obama advisers. "We've just got a real problem that is squeezing American families over and over again." While Corzine said heightened regulation would have a "meaningful impact" on oil prices, he and other Obama advisers Sunday declined to specify how much costs might drop if Obama's plan were put in place. The advisers said McCain co-chairman Phil Gramm, a former senator from Texas, obeyed Enron lobbyists and in 2000 slipped into law the provision that Obama says allows energy traders to drive up prices. McCain surrogates countered that their candidate actually took the lead on closing the loophole, breaking with his party to join Democrats -- including then-Sen. Corzine -- to vote in 2003 for a measure that ultimately failed. "What's interesting is that one of the things Barack Obama has been attacking John McCain on is one of the things John McCain and Jon Corzine worked together on, which is closing the Enron loophole," said state Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer), McCain's campaign chairman in New Jersey. "How does Jon Corzine go out now and argue in favor of Senator Obama's energy plan?" Corzine's high-profile assignment Sunday -- following a similar role in condemning a McCain offshore drilling proposal last week -- comes as he steps up his visible support for Obama after ardently backing his rival, Hillary Clinton, for the nomination. On Tuesday, Corzine gave a fiery speech lauding Obama at New Jersey Democrats' premier fundraising event, the Governor's Gala. He then joined the candidate and 15 other Democratic governors Friday in a series of unity meetings in Chicago. "There's no question about it -- Senator Obama has a great deal of respect for Governor Corzine in so many regards, including Jon Corzine's expertise covering domestic and international financial markets," said Rep. Steven Rothman (D-9th Dist.), Northeast regional co-chairman of Obama's campaign. "Senator Obama will be calling upon Governor Corzine's expertise in a whole host of areas to assist him in winning this November." Casting Corzine in the role of Wall Street wizard works to his advantage and Obama's, political experts said. Obama gains gravitas through Corzine's experience, while Corzine gains a stage to tout his fluency in finance and aligns himself with a potential president, said Joseph Marbach, a political scientist at Seton Hall University. "That's his strength, working in policy -- it's certainly not trying to sell his policies," Marbach said of Corzine, who recently has earned low voter approval ratings for his job performance in the Garden State. Sharon Schulman, director of the William J. Hughes Center for Public Policy at Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, called Obama's tapping Corzine as a financial guru a "natural" fit. "He is a wealth of knowledge," she said. "Whether he can translate that into a political arena -- as he's had trouble doing in New Jersey -- that's still up in the air."