US Democratic presidential candidate Illinois Senator Barack Obama supporters cheer during a "Women's Rally For The Change We Need" at Bank United Centre in Coral Gables, Florida on Friday. Photo: AFP

The White House contenders played the blame game Saturday as the US government readied an astronomically expensive rescue package to avert disaster on Wall Street.
Democrat Barack Obama prepared to flay Republican John McCain's support for privatising Social Security retirement benefits, which his campaign said would be at risk of evaporating in the current turmoil afflicting markets worldwide.
Obama, at a Florida rally focussed on issues of particular concern to women, was also set to assail President George W. Bush for an absence of leadership as the market crisis has exploded, according to his campaign.
McCain meanwhile pursued a new line of attack in blaming the financial hurricane on fraud at US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are among the tottering companies now taken over by the government.
By extension, according to McCain, Obama is to blame as he was a leading recipient in Congress of campaign donations from the two companies and did nothing to sound the alarm about their "festering problems."