Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama shrugged off a crude comment aimed at him by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, accepting an apology for a remark Jackson made as he contended that Obama wasn't speaking to issues important to the black community.

Unaware that his microphone was on during a break for a Fox News program last Sunday, Jackson used a slang reference about wanting to neuter Obama. When he learned Wednesday that the Fox News program "The O'Reilly Factor" would air his comments that night, Jackson apologized.

During a break from taping "Fox & Friends" on Sunday, a fellow guest asked Jackson about speeches on morality Obama has given at black churches. Jackson said at a news conference Wednesday that he responded that Obama's speeches can come off as speaking down to black people and that there were other important issues to be addressed, such as unemployment, the mortgage crisis and the number of blacks in prison.

McCain rejects Gramm: Republican John McCain distanced himself from an economic adviser who dubbed the United States "a nation of whiners" in a "mental recession."

"I strongly disagree" with Phil Gramm's remarks, McCain told reporters in Belleville, Mich. "Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me." The Arizona senator said a person who just lost a job "isn't suffering from a mental recession."

"America is in great difficulty. And we are experiencing enormous economic challenges as well as others," McCain said.

Gramm, a former Texas senator who is a vice chairman of the Swiss bank UBS, made the remarks in an interview with The Washington Times. Gramm has a doctorate in economics.

"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession," Gramm said. He noted that growth has held up at about 1 percent despite publicity over losing jobs to India, China, illegal immigration, housing and credit problems and oil prices.

"We have sort of become a nation of whiners," Gramm said. "You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in decline" despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy, he said.

In Virginia, Obama seized on the comments as he tried to paint McCain as out of touch: "America already has one Dr. Phil. We don't need another one when it comes to the economy." He drew cheers and laughter with that comment, a reference to television psychologist "Dr. Phil" McGraw -- and boos and hisses when he read Gramm's quotes to his audience.

McCain responded to Obama's criticism, saying that the Democrat opposes offshore drilling and nuclear power to try to solve energy woes. "You talk about Dr. Phil, he is Dr. No on energy," McCain said.

McCain fundraising: McCain raised more than $22 million in June, his best fundraising performance of the year. He ended the month with nearly $27 million cash on hand.

The campaign's fundraising has given McCain the ability to spend more on TV advertising than Democratic rival Obama in key battleground states.

Obama has not revealed his June fundraising.