McCain Slams Obama for Backroom Deals

When John McCain finally got a chance to speak at the health care summit today, he let Barack Obama have it, slamming him for crafting the legislation with backroom deals. In particular, he hit on the deal the White House struck with Big Pharma, in which Obama promised to block the re-importation of drugs. “People are angry,” McCain said. “What we got was a process that you and I both said we would change in Washington.”

Obama looked annoyed, at one point trying to cut McCain off, and finally said, “John…We’re not campaigning anymore—the election’s over.” McCain replied with a laugh, “I’m reminded of that every day.” Obama didn’t respond to the Pharma charge, simply saying, “We can have a debate about process, or we can have a debate about how we’re going to help the American people.” (More John McCain stories.)