Obama gives tentative support to financial bailout

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama on Sunday gave his tentative support to a $700 billion Wall Street bailout proposal that has been brokered by the Bush administration and the U.S. Congress.

"While I look forward to reviewing the language of the legislation, it appears that the tentative deal embraces these principles" that Obama said he set forth during the negotiations.

Rank-and-file members of the House of Representatives and Senate are expected to be briefed on details of the rescue package with the goal of passing legislation either Sunday or Monday for President George W. Bush to sign into law.

Obama, in a statement released to reporters, said the deal appears to adhere to four "core principles" he laid out: oversight of the bailout program by an independent board, the ability for the federal government, and thus taxpayers, to recoup the $700 billion, more help for homeowners facing foreclosure and rules governing compensation for executives of companies participating in the bailout.

While Obama, a U.S. senator from Illinois, was supportive of the legislative proposal, he said it was "the culmination of a sorry period in our history, in which reckless speculation and greed on Wall Street and lax oversight from Washington led to a meltdown of our financial markets."

Obama faces Republican presidential candidate John McCain in the November 4 presidential election. Obama said that if elected, he would order a thorough review of the financial industry rescue plan and move to upgrade industry regulations.

Obama also called again for passage of an emergency economic stimulus to create jobs, mainly by funding domestic construction projects.

But it does not appear such legislation will pass Congress this year. While the House approved a $60.8 billion measure last week, a somewhat different version was blocked by Senate Republicans.

(Reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Doina Chiacu)