In the wake of further blows to the American economy this week, many people have been questioning President George W. Bush's unrevised statement from July 31 that the "foundations of this economy are strong." The president's lack of public involvement on the subject when more and more large corporations are failing or needing to be bailed out by the Federal Reserve to avoid bankruptcy, is a real cause for concern among investors and private citizens who are worried about the state of our nation's financial markets. White House press secretary Dana Perino made a statement Wednesday that while the situation is not "clear cut … Our economy has the strength to be able to deal with" the recent shocks, such as the rescue of AIG and continued losses in the stock market.
But this is far from the response that most people were looking for. When pressed to say more, Perino refused, saying, "As soon as I say something, you're going to turn it around and it will be a part of the 2008 campaign. I'm not going to play the game." Bush has also been evasive about the subject. According to the Associated Press, when pressed by a reporter Wednesday during a question-and-answer session in the Oval Office, he responded that he could not hear the question. He dismissed the issue by making light of the situation by saying "I'm old." That may be the case, but we're willing to bet that Americans are also tired of the same old song and dance number that has been playing on the White House airwaves lately. In times of crisis, the president is the last person who should be pussyfooting around such important issues. The fact that he has repeatedly avoided making a direct statement on the state of the economy since July is inexcusable.
Bush's name hasn't been in many of the headlines lately either, and from the look of things it appears as if America currently has two candidates for president, but lacks an acting chief executive. If there was ever a time for government intervention in economic affairs, this would be it. Something has to be done to restore the economy so events such as the mortgage crash and credit crunch are not repeated in the future. But on the positive side, now is also a great time for some of the change that has been talked about so much over the course of presidential campaigning. Anything would be welcome, as this country has been stuck with Bush for almost three thousand days, and he's been acting the part of a fool since he was first sworn in.
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