LOS ANGELES (AP):

President Barack Obama was in the midst of a campaign-style swing through California yesterday, selling his plans for rescuing and restructuring the nation's sickly economy and fragile financial system.

In Washington, meantime, lawmakers had been flaying the chief of American International Group Inc (AIG) for issuing bonus payments to employees in a sector of the company that took the insurance giant into a tailspin requiring billions of dollars in federal bailouts.

"I know Washington's all in a tizzy, and everybody's pointing fingers at each other and saying, 'It's their fault, the Democrats' fault, the Republicans' fault.' Listen, I'll take responsibility. I'm the president," Obama said, occasionally mopping his brow inside the sweltering Orange County auditorium Wednesday night.

In the same breath, he said, "We didn't draft these contracts." But he added, "It is appropriate when you're in charge to make sure that stuff doesn't happen like this."

Obama tried to head off questions about AIG by saying he understood taxpayers' anger. And he tried to broaden the issue, which has vexed his young administration.

Larger problem

"These bonuses, outrageous as they are, are a symptom of a much larger problem," he said. It's "a culture where people made enormous sums of money taking irresponsible risks that have now put the entire economy at risk."

The California trip marked Obama's first appearance as president in a state he won convincingly last year. It was designed to highlight the job-creating benefits of the US$787 billion economic stimulus plan he pushed through Congress last month.

He was to be in downtown Los Angeles yesterday for a second townhall-style meeting before taping an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.