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Barack Obama urged the Bush administration and lawmakers to work quickly to craft a bipartisan plan to ease the country's financial crisis and avert economic “catastrophe.''

Obama echoed the concerns of congressional Democrats who are raising objections to elements of Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's plan to buy as much as $700 billion in soured assets from financial firms. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank called for limits on the pay of executives at companies that would benefit from government bailouts.

The Bush administration's proposal is a “concept with a staggering price tag — not a plan,'' Obama said.

Obama, speaking today to about 25,000 people at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina, repeated his call for the rescue plan to put the interests of average Americans at the top of the agenda.

Solutions must address not just Wall Street, “but also the crisis on Main Street and around kitchen tables,'' Obama said. “In return for their support, the American people must be assured that the deal reflects the basic principles of transparency, fairness and reform.''

“There must be no blank check when American taxpayers are on the hook for this much money,'' said Obama. “Taxpayers shouldn't be spending a dime to reward CEOs on Wall Street while they're going out the door.''

`Grave Mistake'

Frank, Democrat of Massachusetts, said it would be a “grave mistake'' not to include limits on executive compensation. Paulson called such a measure “punitive.''

Frank is also seeking authority to oversee and audit Paulson's rescue program. He has proposed that the U.S. Comptroller General would “commence ongoing oversight of the activities and performance'' of the plan and of “any agents and representatives'' of the initiative, according to legislative language presented to Treasury officials today and obtained by Bloomberg News.

Paulson yesterday asked Congress for unhindered authority to buy devalued mortgage-related securities from investment firms in an effort to keep the financial system from coming to a standstill. The proposal would prevent courts from reviewing the Treasury's actions while raising the nation's debt ceiling to $11.315 trillion from $10.615 trillion.

Obama continued to attack his Republican rival, Arizona Senator John McCain, by trying to link his support for Bush administration economic policies to the current crisis no fax payday loans.

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Obama also repeated his criticism of McCain writing in the current issue of Contingencies, an actuarial journal, that he supports “opening up the health insurance market to more vigorous nationwide competition, as we have done over the last decade in banking.''

“That's right, John McCain says he wants to do for the health care system what Washington has done for banking,'' Obama said.

McCain's senior economic adviser, Doug Holtz-Eakin, yesterday called statement “absurd'' and misleading.

“If Barack Obama thinks that today's financial troubles were caused by policies which allowed Americans to use an ATM anywhere in this country, then it is better that he continue to be silent about solutions to the crisis on Wall Street,'' Holtz- Eakin said in a statement.

“It's also possible Senator Obama is simply a dishonest politician who will say anything to get himself elected and just isn't ready to be president,'' he said.

Obama continued to pitch his message that McCain would keep the country on the same path forged by Republican President George W. Bush.

`New Driver'

“If your car is in a ditch you don't want the driver who thinks we should take the same path that got is in the ditch,'' Obama said. “You want a new driver who has a better sense of direction.''

The McCain campaign today said Obama offers “absolutely no new ideas, policies or concrete solutions.''

“It shows he is just not ready to lead,'' McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said in a statement. “We cannot afford a directionless driver like Barack Obama.''

McCain, in a Baltimore speech at a National Guard convention that dealt largely with military preparedness issues, cited his proposal to create a new government entity to identify bad loans and eventually sell them, while criticizing Obama for not advancing his own proposals to deal with the crisis. The Illinois senator has said he preferred to see what the Bush administration is proposing first.

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