Bush Forced Into 'Diminished Role' in Economic Crisis

Bush Economic Outlook Turns Dour
By MARK MOONEY
Oct. 9, 2008

President Bush has tried to reassure Americans and the stock market that the U.S. economy will be all right, but the certainty of his words has steadily eroded in recent days and have had little impact -- at least any positive impact.



President Bush pauses as he answers a question about the economy during an event on the Emergency Stabilization Act of 2008 at Guernsey Office Products, Inc., in Chantilly, Va., Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008.
(Susan Walsh/AP Photo)

Bush began edging toward the exit today by signing an executive order that starts the transition to a new administration. But even before the paperwork was signed, Bush's unease as his term winds down was strikingly on display earlier this week when he traveled to the Washington suburb of Chantilly, Va., to speak with small-business owners who sat on folding chairs in an office supply company to hear him explain what he was doing to restart the flow of credit.

After Bush spoke, one man explained to the president in an urgent tone that his $3.5 million business had just been told by his banker that it would be more expensive to roll over its $500,000 loan. The businessman told Bush he had to roll over that loan six or seven times a year to keep his company functioning. "That's how badly we need that credit," he told the president.

Moments later, when asked whether the $700 billion Wall Street bailout will work, the best Bush could tell them was, "It's the best shot we've got."

It was hardly a thundering vote of confidence.

His years of sunny optimism seem to have turned dour. He spoke as if Americans would have to hunker down and wait out the economic storm, and he sounded as powerless against it as if it were a meteorological event.

"I wish I could snap my fingers and make what happened stop but that's not the way it works," he told his audience.

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