Obama Gives Cautious Support to Fed Response

Barack Obama gingerly waded into the debate over the government plan to spend hundreds of billions to rescue banks saddled with mortgage debt.

While Obama said that he supports the “bipartisan effort” led by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, the Democrat didn’t weigh in on the specifics of the plan.

“Given the gravity of this situation, and based on conversations I have had with both Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke, I have asked my economic team to refrain from presenting a more detailed blue-print of how an immediate plan might be structured until the Treasury and the Federal Reserve have had an opportunity to present their proposal,” Obama said in a statement released Friday morning.

Read Obama’s full statement below:

“The events of the last few days have made it clear that we must take further bold and decisive action to shore up confidence in our financial markets and avoid a deepening economic crisis that could jeopardize the life savings and well-being of millions of Americans. I support the effort of