IMPEACH BUSH

President Bush and the two major party presidential candidates sympathized Monday with investors and employees of storied but fallen financial institutions, and Bush said federal policymakers will focus their attention on "the health of the financial system as a whole."

"We are working to reduce disruptions and minimize the impact of these financial market developments on the broader economy," Bush said in the Rose Garden, choosing to address the market turmoil at the top of an appearance with visiting Ghanian President John Kufuor. "The policymakers will focus on the health of the financial system as a whole," Bush said.

His statement seemed to serve notice that the government will not continue to bail out Wall Street, as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch & Co. was forced to sell itself to Bank of America, and the world's largest insurance company plans to announce a major restructuring.

"Adjustments in the financial markets can be painful, both for people concerned about their investments and for the employees of the affected firms," the president said. "But in the long run I am confident that our capital markets are flexible and resilient and can deal with these adjustments."

Bush also said he was pleased with work done so far by the Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and major financial institutions to "promote stability" in financial markets shaken by the developments involving Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch.

The president said his advisers at the White House and "throughout my administration" are focused intently on the problems and how to "promote stability in the financial system." He said he was remaining in close touch with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and had been throughout the weekend. Paulson was to join White House officials in discussing the situation with reporters at the White House later Monday.

On the presidential campaign trail, Republican John McCain said Monday he still believes the fundamentals of the nation's economy are strong even as the uncertain fate of two of Wall Street's oldest institutions sent stocks tumbling.

In remarks to a crowd of several thousand in Jacksonville, Fla., the Arizona senator said he agreed there should be no taxpayer-financed bailout of Lehman Brothers.

"The fundamentals of our economy are strong, but these are very, very difficult times, so I promise you: We will never put America in this position again. We will clean up Wall Street," McCain said.

He added: "The McCain-Palin administration will replace an outdated, patchwork quilt of regulatory oversight and bring transparency and accountability to Wall Street. We will have transparency and accountability and we will reform the regulatory bodies of government."

The GOP nominee underscored his message with a new campaign television commercial that seemed to contradict his rosier assessment of the country's economic health.

It is titled, "Crisis" and said, "Our economy in crisis. Only proven reformers John McCain and Sarah Palin can fix it. Tougher rules on Wall Street to protect your life savings. No special interest giveaways. Lower taxes to create new jobs. Offshore drilling to reduce gas prices."

Barack Obama's campaign ridiculed the commercial.

"Today of all days, John McCain's stubborn insistence that the 'fundamentals of the economy are strong' shows that he is disturbingly out of touch with what's going in the lives of ordinary Americans," spokesman Bill Burton said in a statement. "Even as his own ads try to convince him that the economy is in crisis, apparently his 26 years in Washington have left him incapable of understanding that the policies he supports have created an historic economic crisis."

Obama called the fall of both Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch "the most serious financial crisis since the Great Depression" of the 1930s.

Over the weekend, advisers both to McCain and Obama said they did not favor a government bailout of Lehman Brothers.

In a statement issued shortly after 6 a.m. on the U.S. east coast, Obama said he did not blame McCain, but "I do fault the economic philosophy he subscribes to. It's a philosophy we've had for the last eight years — one that says we should give more and more to those with the most and hope that prosperity trickles down to everyone else."

"It's a philosophy that says even common sense regulations are unnecessary and unwise, and one that says we should just stick our heads in the sand and ignore economic problems until they spiral into crises."

McCain said in a statement issued in advance of market openings that he agreed there should be no taxpayer-financed bailout of Lehman Brothers.

"It is essential for us to make sure that the U.S. remains the pre-eminent financial market of the world. This will be a highest priority of my administration. In order to do this, major reform must be made in Washington and on Wall Street," McCain said in his statement.

The demise of the independent Wall Street heavyweights came as shock waves from the 14-month-old credit crisis roiled the U.S. financial system six months after the collapse of Bear Stearns.

The world's largest insurance company, American International Group Inc., also was forced into a restructuring.

And a global consortium of banks, working with government officials in New York, announced a $70 billion pool of funds to lend to troubled financial companies.

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