McCain refers to Obama as ‘that one’

NASHVILLE — John McCain dismissively called rival Barack Obama “that one” while Obama mocked McCain’s “Straight Talk Express.”

Early in Tuesday’s presidential debate Republican candidate McCain blamed Obama and Democrats for the collapse of mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

“They’re the ones that, with the encouragement of Senator Obama and his cronies and his friends in Washington, that went out and made all these risky loans, gave them to people that could never afford to pay back,” McCain said.

Obama responded: “I’ve got to correct a little bit of Senator McCain’s history, not surprisingly. … In fact, Senator McCain’s campaign chairman’s firm was a lobbyist on behalf of Fannie Mae, not me.

“You know, Senator McCain, I think the Straight Talk Express lost a wheel on that one,” Obama said.

During a discussion of an energy bill McCain offered up a two-word phrase that drew a quick reaction from the Obama campaign.

“You know who voted for it?” McCain asked. “You might never know.

“That one,” McCain said, pointing at his opponent.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said after the debate, “John McCain was all over the map on the issues, and he is so angry about the state of his campaign that he referred to Barack Obama as ‘that one’ — last time he couldn’t look at Senator Obama; this time he couldn’t say his name.”

At another point in the debate, McCain also suggested some evasiveness on Obama’s part: “Nailing down Senator Obama’s various tax proposals is like nailing Jell-O to the wall.

“There has been five or six of them and if you wait long enough, there will probably be another one.”

In one pointed confrontation on foreign policy, Obama bluntly challenged McCain’s steadiness.

“This is a guy who sang ‘Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran,’ who called for the annihilation of North Korea — that I don’t think is an example of speaking softly.”

That came in response to McCain’s accusation that Obama had threatened to invade Pakistan.

McCain said his rival “was wrong about Iraq and the surge. He was wrong about Russia when they committed aggression against Georgia. And in his short career he does not understand our national security challenges. We don’t have time for on-the-job training.”

Obama countered with a trace of sarcasm that he didn’t understand some things — like how the United States could face the challenge it does in Afghanistan after spending years and hundreds of billions of dollars in Iraq.