"WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush is set to host White House rivals John McCain and Barack Obama, as well as top lawmakers, for unprecedented economic crisis talks on Thursday, a spokesman has said.
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The news came as the US president, at pains to convince wary lawmakers to adopt his administration's 700-billion-dollar Wall Street rescue plan, took his case to the US public in a prime-time televised speech.
Bush, who telephoned Obama around 7:30 pm (1130 GMT), hopes "to work on driving toward a bipartisan and timely solution on the financial rescue package," said White House spokesman Tony Fratto.
Fratto said leaders from both major US parties and both the Senate and House of Representatives were also to attend the highly unusual sit-down amid fears that US inaction could trigger a global financial meltdown.
Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama has said he would attend a White House meeting on the financial crisis, and stressed his view that the first 2008 US presidential debate should go ahead as scheduled Friday.
"A few moments ago, President (George W.) Bush called Senator Obama and asked him to attend a meeting in Washington tomorrow, which he agreed to do," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said Wednesday.
"Senator Obama has been working all week with leaders in Congress, (Treasury) Secretary (Henry) Paulson, and (Federal Reserve) chairman (Ben) Bernanke to improve this proposal, and he has said that he will continue to work in a bipartisan spirit and do whatever is necessary to come up with a final solution.
News of Obama's decision to join Bush and McCain for discussions on the US economy comes as White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush would announce in his 9:01 pm (0101 GMT Thursday) speech that the proposal he champions "is the right decision" in order to stave off a "once in a century crisis in our financial markets."
With six weeks before US elections, opinion polls show the US public is deeply divided on what to do, with many ready to blame the vastly unpopular president and his Republican party -- itself split over Bush's remedy."
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Topic: Bush calls economic crisis talks with Obama and McCain (Read 742 times)