Ron Kind, a local star who had held every post from high-school quarterback to county prosecutor before being elected to Congress in 1996, ripped into Sen. John McCain as an economic lightweight who could not handle the “3 a.m. phone call” from Treasury Sec. Henry Paulson Jr.

Rep. Ron Kind (WI), co-chair of the New Democrat Coalition, attacked Sen. John McCain at Obama's rally today.

Kind is not usually a partisan attack machine, but he slammed every step of McCain’s response to the financial crisis.

First, Kind said, McCain claimed the fundamentals of the economy were strong — an obvious first strike. Then, the Republican nominee proposed a commission to study the problem, and hastily called for the (impossible) firing of the SEC commissioner — Kind labeled these strikes two and three. The morning crowd roared its approval.

Kind also advocated for the bailout bill — Obama is due to fly back to Washington to vote for today — saying that despite understandable anger “back home,” it was crucial to get the economy moving.

Obama’s supporters, literally overflowing one of those small-town “Main Streets” we all keep hearing about — were silent on that point.

“It’s the American economy that needs this rescue plan,” Obama told 12,000 millennials in a serious, impassioned tone.

For the first time, the Democratic presidential nominee explicitly hitched his ongoing argument about social change to the financial crisis, arguing that the nation must transcend its differences and unite behind the bailout.

It was his most dramatic economic address since the financial crisis began.  In contrast to the parsing that passed for policy leadership at last week’s first presidential debate, Obama emphatically advocated an urgent bailout, regardless of public opinion or partisan squabbling.

“To the Democrats and Republicans who opposed this plan yesterday, I say – step up to the plate and do what’s right for this country,” he told the crowd packed into the quad at the University of Nevada at Reno.

Then Obama offered a new narrative, one that many Americans may resist: He cast the bailout as another historic American achievement — a challenging but invigorating opportunity to come together for the common good.

“This country and the dream it represents are being tested in a way that we haven’t seen in nearly a century.  And future generations will judge ours by how we respond to this test,” he said. “Will they say that this was a time when America lost its way and its purpose?  When we allowed our own petty differences and broken politics to plunge this country into a dark and painful recession? Or will they say that this was another one of those moments when America overcame?  When we battled back from adversity by recognizing that common stake that we have in each other’s success?”

By now, such rhetoric is familiar to the public: Obama’s knack for fusing the language of (progressive) movement organizing with (conservative) American exceptionalism.  Today, he took a risk by wrapping it around a deeply unpopular and complex measure that is widely seen as a sop for reckless elites. It was MLK meets CNBC.

“I believe that this is one of those moments. I know that many of you are anxious about your future and the future of this country,” Obama continued. “Despite all of this, I ask you to believe – believe in this country and your ability to change it.  I ask you what has been asked of the American people in times of trial and turmoil throughout our history – what was asked at the beginning of the greatest financial crisis this nation has ever endured.  In his first fireside chat, Franklin Roosevelt told his fellow Americans that “..there is an element in the readjustment of our financial system more important than currency, more important than gold, and that is the confidence of the people themselves.  Confidence and courage are the essentials of success in carrying out our plan.  Let us unite in banishing fear.  Together, we cannot fail.”

Obama channeled FDR’s era — the fear of depression and the promise of a populist agenda — to recast the bailout as a working-class imperative:

“America, together, we cannot fail.  Not now.  Not when we have a crisis to solve and an economy to save.  Not when there are so many Americans without jobs and without homes.  Not when there are families who can’t afford to see a doctor, or send their child to college, or pay their bills at the end of the month.  Not when there is a generation that is counting on us to give them the same opportunities and the same chances that we had for ourselves,” he said, his voice hitting the characteristic intensity that rounds out Big Speeches.

“Now is the time to make them proud of what we did here.  Let’s give our children the future they deserve, and let’s act with confidence and courage to show the world that at this moment, in this election, the United States of America is still the last, best hope of Earth.”

It was the kind of grand, sprawling argument that Obama makes better than most politicians alive — whether you agree with him or not.  Right now, most Americans don’t.

Strolling off his plane with cell phone in hand, the Democratic presidential nominee looked calm as he arrived in Nevada today, walking around the tarmac in deep conversation for several minutes.

Obama arrived in Reno, NV on Monday evening.

Aides did not say who was on the line when Obama touched down, though they had been quick to announce his calls with Treasury Sec. Henry Paulson Jr. and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier in the day.

When the call ended, Obama walked toward an SUV with his press aide Robert Gibbs, and stopped briefly to take a question from the press.

Jeff Zeleny, a reporter for The New York Times, crouched near the motorcade and asked for a response to McCain’s latest attack — that Obama was “injecting politics” into the fight over the bailout.

Obama said he had already addressed the issue in his speech on Monday, and he pledged that he would have more to say tomorrow. This is a campaign, so that promise is pretty safe.

Obama also yelled back that he’d learned not to take the bait — though that’s not an exact quote, and I’m not sure what it means anyway. (McCain’s bait? Zeleny’s?)

The exchange ended there.

It was not enlightening, obviously. Except for perhaps reinforcing Obama’s uber-deliberate approach to every step and message during this period of economic anxiety. Then the motorcade whisked everyone off Reno’s Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, which promises guests “80,000 square feet of heart-pounding casino action 24 hours a day.”

It’s just the spot to make up for those 401(k) losses.

“While things are never smooth in Congress,” Obama told voters as soon as he took the stage, “understand that it will get done.”

Then Obama boiled down his simple message for Congress: “Get this done!”

Obama called for calm as Congress struggles with reaching consensus on a bailout — a mood that is not felt in the markets today — but also repeatedly told voters it was an “outrage” that the Republican “philosophy” of deregulation and trickle down economics has led to this avoidable crisis.

Obama depicted the bailout’s road through Washington as tough, but eminently doable. “It’s sorta like flying into Denver,” Obama told voters to wide applause, “you know you’re going to land, but it’s not always fun going over those mountains.”

Obama also apologized for appearing late at the rally, explaining that he was on the phone with Sec. Paulson, Speaker Pelosi and congressional leaders.

Confidence aside, Obama did not offer a specific plan for how the rescue plan could recruit more support — from rank and file members of Congress or the many Americans who oppose the proposal.