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Presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama, who just finished a well-received trip to Europe, is turning his attention to economics

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Obama today was scheduled to meet with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to discuss the credit crisis and the Illinois senator’s plans to strengthen oversight of financial institutions if elected president, according to The Wall Street Journal. He also was set to speak with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the paper said.

Obama today was scheduled to meet with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to discuss the credit crisis and the Illinois senator’s plans to strengthen oversight of financial institutions if elected president, according to The Wall Street Journal. He also was set to speak with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the paper said.

The meetings with Bernanke and Paulson comes as Obama has reached out to billionaire Warren Buffett, former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker and ex-Treasury Secretaries Bob Rubin and Larry Summers to help him fine-tune his economic policies some of which have raised the concerns of Wall Street such as taxing the windfall profits of oil companies.

Already, the Illinois senator is striking a populist tone telling reporters that the soaring national debt "was not an accident or a normal part of the business cycle that led us to this situation. There were some irresponsible decisions that were made on Wall Street and in Washington."

True enough. Investors are going to have to come to grips with the fact that the odds of Obama becoming the next president are fairly good. The days of letting the market do whatever it wants are over.

Jonathan Berr