Democrat Barack Obama on Thursday gleefully pounced on a comment by a top backer of his Republican White House foe John McCain that Americans were a "nation of whiners" spooked by a "mental recession."

McCain disowned the remark by former senator Phil Gramm, who advises him on economic issues, as the Obama camp used it to try to portray Republicans as oblivious to struggles of Americans faced with rising food and gasoline prices.

"Senator Phil Gramm, a top economic advisor to Senator McCain, just recently said that this is merely 'a mental recession,'" Obama said during a campaign appearance in Virgina.

"Senator Gramm then deemed the United States, and I quote, 'a nation of whiners,'" Obama said.

"Well, you know, America already has one Dr. Phil," Obama said, referring to a tough-talking television talk show host and psychologist.

"When it comes to the economy, we don't need another," he said.

"I think it's time we had a president who doesn’t deny our problems or blame the American people for them, but takes responsibility and provides the leadership to solve them. That's the kind of president I will be."

McCain, who like Obama is trying to convince voters that he identifies with their struggles as the economy emerges as the number one issue ahead of November's election, also tackled the Gramm comments.

"I don't agree with Senator Gramm," the Arizona senator said while campaigning in the economically struggling Midwest.

"I believe that the person here in Michigan that just lost his job isn't suffering from a mental recession," McCain said.

"I believe the mother here in Michigan and around America that is trying to get enough money to educate her children isn't whining.

"Phil Gramm does not speak for me, I speak for me. So I strongly disagree," he said, joking that the former senator could be in line for a job as ambassador to Belarus if he won the election.

"Though I’m not sure the citizens of Minsk would welcome that," McCain added.

Gramm, a former senator from Texas, ignited the furore with an interview in the Washington Times newspaper on Wednesday in which he said the United States still had a dominant economy, despite widespread fears of a recession.

"You've heard of mental depression, this is a mental recession," he said.

"We may have a recession, we haven't had one yet. We have sort of become a nation of whiners, you just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline."

AFP