Washington: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch said he was impressed by Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama's "rock star" status and found that his Republican rival, John McCain, "has a lot of problems."

"You have possibly the making of a phenomenon in this country," Murdoch said without actually mentioning Obama by name, at the "All Things Digital" conference held Wednesday by The Wall Street Journal in Carlsbad, California.

"Politicians and Washington are at an all time low, they are despised by 80 per cent of the public ... And you've got a candidate who is ... Trying to put himself above it all ... And he's become a rock star. It's fantastic."

The News Corp chairman admitted he had some influence over the New York Post's endorsement of Obama, 46,over Hillary Clinton, 60,his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination.

With regards to presumptive Republican candidate McCain, who also got the daily newspaper's backing during his party's primaries, Murdoch said the 71-year-old Arizona senator faced some problems.

"You've got the Obama phenomenon, undoubtedly a recession," he said, adding that McCain had "been in Congress a long time, and you've got to make too many compromises" as a lawmaker.

"He s a patriot, he s a friend of mine, a very decent guy. I think he has and I say this sympathetically I think he has a lot of problems," Murdoch said.

Source : PTI