Agence France-Presse: Barack Obama launched a counter-attack Monday after a week of pummeling by his White House rival John McCain, dismissing the Republican as “in the pocket” of profit-pumping US oil giants. The Democratic hopeful, who turned 47 on Monday, went on the offensive as daily tracking polls showed McCain had battled back into a statistical tie in the presidential duel, exactly three months before election day. In a hard-hitting new campaign ad, Obama accused McCain of taking campaign …