By: Roger Simon
Where’s George? The president, I mean.
You remember him. Dubya. No. 43. Won a second term a few years ago. It was in all the papers.
But where has he been lately? Where has he been during America’s worst financial crisis since the Great Depression?
Nowhere. AWOL. Every now and then, when the stock market takes yet another sickening plunge, a few words issue forth from the presidential lips. A very few words. Delivered with the greatest reluctance.
“I will continue to closely monitor the situation in our financial markets and consult with my economic advisers,” President Bush said Thursday in a two-minute address from the Rose Garden.
That’s right, two minutes. Delivered, according to the official White House transcript, from 10:15 a.m. EDT to 10:17 a.m. EDT. Maybe you missed it. Maybe you were at work. Maybe the president doesn’t care.
Maybe that’s the problem.
George W. Bush will continue to draw a paycheck until noon on Jan. 20, 2009. (If there is still any money left in the U.S. Treasury to pay him, that is.) But what has he been doing to earn his pay lately? Not calming fears among his fellow citizens about their life savings, that’s for sure.
On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 504 points, its worst drop since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. But Bush did not address the nation that night.
Instead, he held a state dinner for the president of Ghana. Gratin of Maine lobster, late-summer corn pudding, ginger-scented farm lamb and graham cracker crumble with cocoa pod shell was served. Eleven members of the cast of “The Lion King” came down from Broadway and performed. It was quite a bash. The Washington Post described President Bush and Ghanaian President John Kufuor as “ebullient.”
I have nothing against Ghana. I have been to Ghana. I really liked the people there. And considering President Kufuor had Bush over for dinner in February when Bush was in Ghana, Bush was only being polite. (To honor Bush in February, Kufuor renamed a local highway the “George Bush Motorway.” Bush did not return the favor this week, perhaps because he intends to sell the naming rights to our federal highways for quick cash.)
The toast President Bush gave to President Kufuor Monday was 383 words long. Bush’s Rose Garden address to the nation Thursday on the financial crisis was 263 words long.
Could this be a case of misplaced priorities? Do you think?
We are talking about a real crisis in America that is going to turn into a real panic unless the president does something. Modern presidents have assumed duties beyond their constitutional ones, and one duty is to provide guidance and leadership that establish calm and restore confidence in times of trouble. George Bush did this very well following Sept. 11, but he is not doing it now.
The stock market swoons, home prices fall, job losses mount. But the president does not want to talk about it. Not really. And he certainly does not want to take any questions about it.
He has not taken any questions on anything since Aug. 6. On Wednesday his press secretary, Dana Perino, explained why. “If you guys [i.e., reporters] had him in here, almost everything would be geared towards the election, and he is cognizant of that,” Perino said. “I mean, every time that I would think about maybe having a press conference, the news of the day would be such that we might be talking about lipstick on a pig, and the president is just not going to get involved in it.”
In other words, the president is not going to get involved with restoring public confidence in our financial system because he is afraid somebody might ask him a question about politics. And because he doesn’t want to talk about politics (and why doesn’t he, considering he is supporting John McCain?), he won’t talk about anything.
Does this make any sense? Calm any fears? Soothe any troubled minds?
Does the president have a magic wand that can make the current crisis go away? No. That is my point. Because the president lacks a magic wand, he must use the tools at his disposal, one of which is the bully pulpit.
He needs to sit down behind that big desk in the Oval Office and have a formal address to this nation. Then he needs to hold a news conference and answer questions, even the unpleasant ones.
And if he wants to have “The Lion King” performed afterward, fine.
What purpose does the President serve in a crisis like this?
What should he do for the American public?
22 comments:
Bush seems very lost and unsure about what to do so instead of facing the problem he hides from it and lets other people address it. It seems (to me at least) that when our country is in trouble, the person who runs our country should take some responsibility for the problem and not try to stay out of it.
In crisis such as this one, Bush's role as the president is to address the issues. He needs to stop hiding from the public eye and answer the questions that the millions of Americans who are affected by this need to know. Two minutes talking about the financial downfall of our country is completely unacceptable. Maybe the knowledge that he's soon going to be out of office has made him just stop caring.
As for the party for the president of Ghana; if the rest of the country has to stop and think before we buy something, don't you think that he should have to do the same?
On my thought, President Bush seems lost and not care about the country's economy. If this problem continous to next year the Jan 20 noon. It seems (for me feel like this country will get worst than now) that means our this country can be in trouble, maybe more worst.The person who runs for this country must be take care of all these problems.
Right now, President Bush should stop hidding from the public eyes of all people in United Stats, and to find out the answer of the question ask of 3 million American.
Like Bush was warrior about citizens about their life savings, this is really big problem. Like the all the businesses on the Wall Street, Some were bankruptcy, some were M&A to pther business. All the happen will let us to think about the country further waht will be.
ok so i'm totally looking at this in a different way. so the elections are coming up and Bush is about to leave. the first thing that popped into my head is that since he's leaving and pretty much most of the country hates him by now, why do anything that might take some energy out of him. the people that hate him are just gonna hate him even more and the people that disliked him will start hating him. but what does he care, he's about to leave office. and the way things are looking now, obama, a democrat, seems like he might win the election and take over. why Bush isn't caring about the sitiuation is he wants to leave this big mess for the next person in office, most likely the democrat, making him and the democratic party look bad and have to fix everything. weird processing, i know, but that's what came to me.
George Bush is pretty much afflicted with senior-itus. Yeah he has gone through some pretty turbulent times as president but the fact that he is getting apathetic at the end of term is just embarrassing. Who-ever wins the elections is going to be dumped with all the problems that George Bush is currently neglecting, and that is not going to be good for anyone. We need George to step up and put forth some effort so that our new president is not completely swamped with hundreds of problems ruining what could have been a good presidency.
I think that it is a sad commentary on our times when a president who is leaving office soon already quits doing his job. He still has an obligation to address the issues at hand, more so than maintaining foriegn relations by throwing lavish parties. He needs to deliberate and act on the problems at hand, not sit in the white house and wait out the rest of his term.
I think the President should be trying to calm the people and find solutions rather than having dinner parties when the rest of the country is struggling with finances. Bush may not know what to do and instead of truly facing this fact, he's hiding. Or maybe he's just as afraid as we are. There are an endless amount of possibilities why he could be hiding away from his presidential duties. I don't really have a definite idea of why but i do think he needs to face the truth and talk about the current financial situation of the United States. Maybe if we knew that Bush was actually trying to find a solution and actually cared (not saying that he doesn't but it doesn't seem like he does...) the situation wouldn't seem so bad.
Bush doesn't have any sense of what to do on the situation at hand here. He is very unsure of everything geared toward the election and the crisis with economics right now. Which is very bad considering his position in government. I too think Bush needs to address his nation that he guided for eight years and talk to us about whats going on and to also answer questions that need to be answered. Its quite shameful that he was so concerned on 9/11 and now that his nation is plummiting into depression he cowards and hides. I can't wait for the election
~Isaac Pena
Bush is definately not serving his purpose in our time of need. What he needs to be doing is finding ways to fix our problem and filling us in on whats going on. Instead all he's doing is hiding behind his useless excuses. He's leaving us in the dark and ignoring our questions. He needs to suck it up and just tell us what we need to know.
“Nowhere. AWOL” this is realy ture.i think Bush awol because he think a new president will come,and he will leave.So he doesn't care any more now.But the point is Bush who is US president,a nation leader.In the world warII,Germany has been in the bombing of London.But Winston Churchill who is Britain president,he isn't AWOL,he is still command battle.
Im opinion, George Bush doesn't want to get involved in anything difficult at this time. He's staying away from major issues that need to be serviced. Giving a two minute speech obviously shows that he doesn't care. We only have two put up with him for a few more months and he will be out of office soon.
When we think of the status of our economy, I don't find much people thinking of Bush. More of what I hear is how McCain or Obama will handle the economy, not what Bush will do now.
The media today focuses mostly on 1)the presidential candidates and 2)economic crisis (gasoline prices, bankrupt companies, etc), and how both relate.
This article does bring up a good point (that many of us had forgotten), where is Bush? A lot of us assumed not to hear from him since his term is almost over, but our economy is suffering now, and he's still president. We need to hear something that lasts more than two minutes.
bush's presidency most definetley started on the wrong foot. the 911 attacks were one of the worst terrorist acts of all time and we should look back on that issue. but, his term went on a downfall slowly as the war carried on. and here we are now in a massive financial crisis. i personaly believe that hiding from the public isnt the way to adress such a matter. this bone head needs to get out of the white house so barrack can get in and save this country so we dont become a bunch of poor anarchist ( not really)
I agree with Mr. Simon about the crisis facing America. I also agree with his point about the president's inadequacies during this time of trouble and turmoil. But although I don't like Bush at all, I have to disagree with the idea that Bush does not at all care about the welfare of a nation and the worries of its people. I think the reason why George Bush is avoiding the press and a proper address is because even he doesn't know what to do. Like high school students, he is actually "procrastinating" and trying to put tough situations on hold. He shouldn't be that. A good leader should rise above all else in a time of turmoil, a good leader should provide the comfort and confidence for the people, but George Bush did neither of those. I think Bush should assume more responsibility. If you can't fix the economy, at least placate the citizens.
I think by now president Bush's words are powerless to convince any one(except for those who are voting for McCain). He alone contributed greatly to the economic crisis we've plunged into, but he cannot rescue us from it.
By now Bush is considering the last final days at the white house his retirement. Olympics, vacations, and now this whole president of Ghana thing. All he do now is probably sit back a laugh at the stupid jokes McCain and Palin made. What does he care except for his position on "war of terror"?
Bush seems to be hoping that he can get away without doing anything major in the government. Anything that could backfire and make him less popular.
Hes just waiting for someone else to come and take over the problems. It does seem as though when a new president is elected, they do have this fabled "magic wand."
This, however is no excuse for him to stop being a president in the middle of a term. If anything, he should still try to take care of our country, even if it doesn't do anything beneficiary.
Or maybe he is waiting until he hears one of the candidate's plans and then take action. Either way, he needs to act soon and earn his pound of flesh.
At this point, Bush doesn't really care about the United States. As sad as this seems, it is unfortunately true. As Bush sees it, he has no reason to actually govern this country anymore. He can't be re-elected so what's the point of looking good in the eyes of our society? Plus, his decisions have been fool-hearty and making us despise him even more.
In all honesty, the best thing he can do is nothing. This economy will fix it's self when it is given enough time. When Bernanke and Bush decided to give us a little economic stimulus by giving us money, they didn't really help the situation.
American's can't hold on to money for very long, it burns a hole in their pocket. So they get rid of it asap, but while this looks like it helps our economy, the reality is that it doesn't. The best thing for Bush to do is to let things run the way they're supposed to and in time the economy will be back to normal. (If not, there's always China)
In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt started giving his famous radio talks, in which he explained his plans for the Great Depression. Because the broadcasts were pretty informal, his listeners felt that he was talking directly to them, understanding their problems and working hard to address their needs. Roosevelt was elected president because he was a symbol of hope for the aggrieved people. His ability to connect personally with ordinary people, to communicate his optimism, and project an image of vigorous action was probably as important as all the New Deal legislation combined in helping the nation weather the Great Depression.
By avoiding the press, by not addressing the people, Bush is showing great insecurity and weakness. It may be presumptuous and cold-hearted of me to say this, for it is impossible for me to know what it is like for him, but the President is essentially the leader of the nation, and as a leader, he is not allowed to show helplessness. Talk to the people. Give them hope. Let the people know that the president is at least thinking of them. Yes, there will be critics, as there always are, but avoiding confrontations, hiding insecurities, pretending that everything is alright, is weakness in itself.
I think that since Bush is about to get out of office, he wants to avoid all those headaches and big-worded questions. Hiding behind his desk is just a better option. But since I don't think he did much ever since he started being president, I really wasn't expecting much anyway. It's still disappointing that eight years went down the dump.
I enjoyed reading this
The economy seems to have been slowly spiralling downward for a while now; I keep hearing bad things about it. And after the past years it's difficult for me to be surprised by Bush's behavior
Bush is incompetent and I doubt he'll do anything about this before he leaves
On the president of Ghana, as I've already said I don't think I could be surprised by anything Bush does at this point, so that's just another nail in the coffin.
I'm hoping the new guy will properly address and fix this problem, and I'm sure they will. Both McCain and Obama seem to realize that the economy is in trouble and are gearing their campaigns accordingly. One thing I don't like is how McCain likes to bash Obama in his ads every chance he gets. That's just lame
So in short this article does not surprise me but rather solidifies my already rather solid belief that Bush needs to get out of office.
George maybe seems lost, but it's not just his responsibiilty for the problem and not try to stay out of it. the thing is, he cannot stay out of it. George is the one maybe who runs the country, but he doesnt make all the decisions.
he probably follows others opinions. i think the problem he has is on his fellowers.
Reading about all of this really frightens me. To know that our president is not taking any action to correct this problem is just more proof of how we drastically need a new president. Bush has led us into this situation and now needs to take initiative and lead us out. If I had any money in the stock market I would be furious (though, I am regardless, because my parents need money to retire), to see how the stocks are plummeting and he sits idly and enjoys himself. It is just appalling.
Bush doesn't seem very educated on the economy. It seems that he has ran away like a child does when he gets in a fight with his parents. Bush not doing anything just makes the whole situation a lot more depressing. I'm very ready for a new president.
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