President Bush, acting presidential in a crisis, addresses the nation

In the countdown to election day (41 days, if you're keeping track), the focus is, quite naturally, on Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama -- one of whom will end up in the Oval Office come Jan. 20. The current occupant of the White House, President Bush, may feel a little left out at times.

But not tonight.

Given the current state of the economy -- and the Bush administration's proposed $700-billion bailout of the financial services sector -- the president gave a televised speech to the nation tonight. Legislators have been wrangling over the shape of the package and the speed with which it was put together, and the White House thought that a little extra "oomph" might be needed.

Or, as White House Press Secretary Dana Perino put it, "We are going to take the time tonight to try to get this over the goal line."

And if the speech isn't enough to get the negotiations back on track, Bush will meet Thursday with McCain, Obama and other congressional leaders.

The Times' White House reporter, James Gerstenzang, offers his view of the speech here.

-- Leslie Hoffecker

Photo: Ron Edmonds / Associated Press

Comments

[Deena Larsen]

Ummmm. No.

Acting presidential is taking action BEFORE Wall Street melts down by ensuring that we have regulations against stupidity and theft and corruption. Acting presidential is addressing the nation the SAME DAY that Wall Street melts down--and calming the nation--the only thing to fear is fear itself. Acting presidential is getting real solutions--not trust us with 700 billion dollars more of your money and your children's money and your grand children's money.

Acting presidential is advocating fiscal responsibility--like Obama does in his platform to:

1) Reinstate PAYGO Rules: Obama and Biden believe that a critical step in restoring fiscal discipline is enforcing pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) budgeting rules which require new spending commitments or tax changes to be paid for by cuts to other programs or new revenue.

2) Reverse Bush Tax Cuts for the Wealthy: Obama and Biden will protect tax cuts for poor and middle class families, but they will reverse most of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest taxpayers.

3) Cut Pork Barrel Spending: Obama introduced and passed bipartisan legislation that would require more disclosure and transparency for special-interest earmarks. Obama and Biden believe that spending that cannot withstand public scrutiny cannot be justified. Obama and Biden will slash earmarks to no greater than year 2001 levels and ensure all spending decisions are open to the public.

[Radioceleb99]

THE SECRET OF WHY $200 BILLION WILL BEAT $700 BILLION
In a reverse auction format firms bid to sell debt to the government. Having a $700 Billion Dollar Fund would create a situation in which the sellers would not have the sense of urgency needed to aggressively price their bids. The bailout funds modest burn rate of $50 billion a month would encourage sellers to collectively holdout for prices that are far above what the debt would bring under competitive bidding. Let’s not forget that the sellers are much more informed and are in a far better position to understand the nuances of their portfolios and the future loan performance modeling than the “experts” the govt. is going to hire. The governments inferior knowledge could leave the taxpayers suffering unimaginable losses. Worse yet those losses may only be discovered well after the treasury runs out of money.
Forget the $700 billion. Authorize an initial commitment of $200 billion and pre-schedule subsequent hearings for additional financial commitments in advance. This would leave just enough margin of uncertainty that the sellers desire to hold out for higher prices would be tempered by their innate fear of loss that they might miss the governments gravy train altogether.

[Radioceleb99]

THE SECRET OF WHY $200 BILLION WILL BEAT $700 BILLION…
In a reverse auction format firms bid to sell debt to the government. Having a $700 Billion Dollar Fund would create a situation in which the sellers would not have the sense of urgency needed to aggressively price their bids. The bailout funds modest burn rate of $50 billion a month would encourage sellers to collectively holdout for prices that are far above what the debt would bring under competitive bidding. Let’s not forget that the sellers are much more informed and are in a far better position to understand the nuances of their portfolios and the future loan performance modeling than the “experts” the govt. is going to hire. The governments inferior knowledge could leave the taxpayers suffering unimaginable losses. Worse yet those losses may only be discovered well after the treasury runs out of money.
Forget the $700 billion. Authorize an initial commitment of $200 billion and pre-schedule subsequent hearings for additional financial commitments in advance. This would leave just enough margin of uncertainty that the sellers desire to hold out for higher prices would be tempered by their innate fear of loss that they might miss the governments gravy train altogether.