When George W. Bush speaks, are people selling?

It seems like every time President Bush speaks about the economy, the market goes down. As Bloomberg News reported this morning, Bush has made or issued a statement seven times since Congress gave final blessings to the $700 billion rescue plan on Oct. 1. During that time, the market has lost more than 20% of its value.

But is it really fair to blame the president for the market's slide?

Asked about this at the White House today, press secretary Dana Perino gave a spirited defense of the president's mission.

Let me tell you something, if he wasn't talking all the time, I can guarantee you the questions from the media would be to me, "Why is the president not talking? The markets have gone down every day. The president needs to get out there." We're trying to strike the best possible balance that we can. President Bush recognizes that as the leader of this country, when the -- Americans are facing probably more anxiety than they've ever felt in their lives, that it is important that they know that the leader of the free world has his full attention focused on helping solve this problem. That's the purpose of our communications.

Perino said Bush's statements also serve "to remind people that we're not going to be able to snap our fingers and get our way out of this problem." Saying the president's words "were never billed as a panacea to make the markets go up," she added, "What we're trying to do is stop the bleeding, strengthen the markets, return it to -- return people's confidence."

The press secretary also denied the subtext of the question, that somehow investors have lost faith in the president. On Monday when he spoke in Cincinnati, she said, "the Dow went up while he was speaking, then it went down at the end of the day." Blaming the 24/7 focus on the markets for distorting the picture, she pledged to keep giving Bush a platform.

I will make sure that the president is able to talk to the American people as often as he thinks is responsible in order to let them know what we are doing to make sure that we help solve this problem.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Ken Cedeno/Bloomberg News

Comments

[William]

In the near future, there is going to be a time where we all are standing here at the bottom, looking up, looking at where we have been and be in relief it is all over. Sites like these will no longer be impacting economic news http://www.buymyhousebeforethebanktakesit.com . The dust will settle and there will be great deals to be made, great opportunities to invest in and we will all move on. It will be a time for rebuilding, working together hand in hand, and lending a helping hand. Our actions will have become a part of history. You will be able to tell your grandkids you made it through the crash of 2008 and tell them your part. Your character will be determined, did you believe on not, did you hold on or not, did you panic or not, did you ride the course or not, did you contribute or take. What was your role, what did you do to help others, what did you do to help America in it’s time of need? Your decisions and actions today are what are building tomorrow. Make sure they are the right decisions.

[Tom Gerber]

George W. Bush has lost so much credibility that whatever he says doesn't carry much weight with people. He is the lamest of lame ducks.

[roger lehnert]

one only need to look at the various indexes for the answer to that question. the answer is sadly yes!! thanks dubya. roger

[wemba]

I made a nice video for Barack Obama. Share and comment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X2kjgdF1Xk

Thanks