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Washington: President George W. Bush travelled a fair distance from Friday to Monday, and not just to New York and back to the White House.
One day, he warned the economy could land "in a ditch" if the government engaged in big bailout-type help for people losing their homes because they gambled, unwisely or unknowingly, on the now-collapsed subprime market.
On the other, he endorsed the Federal Reserve's move to provide $30 billion (19 billion euro) in backing for the rescue of one of Wall Street's largest investment banks, needed because Bear Stearns risked too much in that very sector.
Meanwhile, throughout the economy's recent turbulent times - lost jobs, sky-high gasoline prices, plunging home values, a free-falling dollar, shaken consumer confidence, a growth slowdown and possibly even a recession - Bush has projected an air of unwavering optimism, even joviality.
He is the biggest economic cheerleader at a time of deep uncertainty. "The US is on top of the situation," he declared on Monday.
It all has some people shaking their heads. Is there a disconnect here? Does the president get how this might feel to the little guy? Is there a different standard for the big financial community and the strapped homeowner facing foreclosure? This sort of question dominated presidential spokeswoman Dana Perino's briefings on Monday.
Absolutely, the president gets it, she said.
Perino listed steps the administration has been taking to provide relief for homeowners in trouble, such as brokering deals with the mortgage industry for a five-year rate freeze and a 30-day foreclosure pause. She said "help is on the way" in the form of tax rebate checks in May that are part of a $168 billion (106.53 billion euro) stimulus package.
She also insisted that the Fed's decision, backed by Bush, to support the purchase of troubled Bear Stearns is a different matter. Bush has rejected bailouts because he says they encourage more people to make poor decisions. But Perino said the broader financial market could follow a company such as Bear Stearns into ruin, causing a ripple effect that demanded bold preventive action. "A major market disruption would have very damaging consequences and be very painful for everybody, from the small-business owner to the homeowner," Perino said.
Clarification
In any case, the Fed action on Bear Stearns' behalf does not amount to a bailout, she said, because the company's shareholders "are taking large and significant losses in this transaction." Policy arguments aside, when it comes to presidents and crises, particularly economic ones, perceptions are key.
There was Bush's father, who lost re-election to the White House largely because he was seen as out of touch with the economic problems of regular people. Bill Clinton won with his "I-feel-your-pain" empathy.
And remember Herbert Hoover, infamous for presiding over the onset of the Great Depression after the 1929 stock market crash? History has given him a laissez-faire legacy even though his administration acted aggressively to try to avert that economic meltdown.
Hoover's reputation was built in part on remarks viewed as too rosy. "The problem is not at all insurmountable in the long run," he said on October 6, 1930, as unemployment, poverty and desperation climbed.
Optimism
An aide to Hoover's successor, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, summed up the problem with his approach: "People don't eat in the long run; they eat every day."
Even so, here was Bush making brief remarks to reporters on Monday morning after meeting with his economic advisers: "In the long run, our economy is going to be fine." He said the same thing Friday in New York, adding "I'm coming to you as an optimistic fellow." Bush can't seem to help turning upbeat even when taking care to acknowledge the pocketbook pain being felt by many.
"One thing is for certain - we're in challenging times. But another thing is for certain - that we've taken strong and decisive action," he said Monday.
Democrats are struggling for the right note, too. They assumed the somewhat awkward position of criticising Bush for going too far and not far enough at the same time. They want more direct help for homeowners, such as changing the bankruptcy code to allow judges to adjust mortgage rates.
"Now that the president has shown his willingness to bail out Wall Street at taxpayer expense, I hope he will drop his opposition to proposals designed to help ordinary homeowners," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Bush rejects the bank-ruptcy plan and other ideas like it. He wants legislation providing broad mortgage reform instead. "The challenge is not to do anything foolish," he says.
But that challenge applies to his demeanour as well. Last month, he surprised some people by saying he was unaware that some analysts were predicting $4-a-gallon gasoline by summer.
On Friday, as stocks were tumbling on the developing crisis at Bear Stearns, Bush gave a hearty laugh and said he had shown up in New York "in an interesting moment."
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