I’ve already said my piece on the proposed Treasury Bailout of Wall Street, so I won’t belabor that view.
In the meantime, there are much better places to keep up with the minute-by-minute political developments on the proposed bailout — for example, check out Clusterstock, DealBreaker and Felix Salmon for astute and up-to-the-minute analysis.
However, one point from my previous post deserves further review — that is, circumstances such as this provide us with a revealing view of our political leaders.
Do they inspire positive and collaborative action in difficult times for the better good of society?
Or do they attempt to generate support for their political position through fear-mongering and demagoguery?
In my view, President Bush’s handling of the negotiations over the proposed bailout has been abysmal. As Jeff Matthews points out:
The President’s unfortunate choice of words—”this sucker could go down”—carry the same deer-in-headlights quality as his televised speech to the American people last week, in which he used the word “panic,” as we recall.
At a minimum, it makes you nervous; at a maximum, it makes you want to throw up first and sell everything second.What happened to the heroic, forward-looking rhetoric great leaders are supposed to provide in times of crisis?
FDR gave us “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” Churchill gave us “We shall fight on the beaches.” George Bush cruises in with “This sucker could go down.”
We wonder: has a more irresponsible sentence been uttered, by anyone, during this entire crisis?
John Carney reports that President Bush wasn’t any better today in responding to the House’s rejection of the proposed bailout:
“We put forth a plan that was big because we got a big problem,” Bush just said, sitting in a chair placed before a fireplace in the White House. He’s meeting with advisers, he said. “I’m disappointed with the vote in Congress,” the president said.
Was that his version of FDR’s famous fireside chats? Bush looked annoyed he was being bothered with this stuff.
This from a President who failed to persuade more than a third of his own party members in the House for his position in response to a financial emergency?
in view of the last 8 years, we expect nothing more from the guy, who’s out of his depth.
All good points, but what of Paulson’s apocalyptic pronouncements?
The President has clearly deferred to Paulson on this issue (why Paulson was ever given the Administration’s economics portfolio in the first place is a good question we hope is answered at some point in the future), and Paulson’s language has been anything but measured and temperate, perhaps to the point of being self-fulfilling.
And Paulson has managed the politics disastrously, seemingly forgetting that he can cut all the deals he wants with the Dem leadership, but if they can’t/won’t/don’t deliver an outright majority in the House, he can’t really treat House conservatives as an afterthought (which he pretty much did — a curious approach from a Republican administration).
Nobody in the political class has come off looking good in this.
Kevin, I agree that Paulson has acted shamefully.
It is the epitome of arrogance that Bush, Paulson, Bernarke, Pelosi, Frank et al suggest that Americans should support this bailout without a coherently presented reason for doing so other than “this sucker could go down.”
I agree Tom,
Further once again the MSM misleads people into believing that we are going to see a depression as we saw in 1929 if this isn’t passed. There was a fairly good article in the Wall Street Journal: http: //online.wsj.com/article/SB122272238714287459.html
That explained why the depression happened. Further since Pelosi doesn’t know why it was great, maybe she shouldn’t be voting….
That’s my two cents worth!
Paulie — you’re doing a heckuva job.
I candidly concede that Sarah Plain may leave something to be desired. Nonetheless, Joe Biden is a serial liar who seems not to be able to discern between reality and pure fantasy. He has falsely claimed that he faced gun shots—and his wife was killed by a drunk driver. One should never forget that we must often choose between the lesser of evils.