Note to President Bush – Don’t Blow It.
The President just spoke live at 8:45 am, the day after the House did not pass the $700 billion bail out (sorry rescue) bill.
Not one of his finest moments, not to mention that half the country is still in bed. The country is on the verge of a meltdown and he sound like he’s trying to get a budget bill passed. “Congress must work together in a bi-partison manner to help the financial future of the markets and the country”… not an exact quote, it’s what I took away from his message.
Congress was not the problem yesterday, the American people are not behind this bill and they let Congress know about it.
The first thing President Bush should do is fire every one of his speech writers and hire Peggy Noonan (President Regan’s speech writer). She was on Morning Joe on MSMBC before the speech and she outlined what the President needed to do.
- Reassure the American people that this is not a bailout of Wall Street, it’s a rescue of the American peoples’ financial future.
- Explain how we managed problems like this in the past and came through because of the power of the US economy.
The fact is, we have had issues like this in the past. The President needs to explain to the American people (not Congress) what has happened, what needs to be done, and what is going to happen if we do nothing.
Explain to the American People:
- We bailed out the Saving and Loans back in the 80’s and had a debate just like the one we are having now. The bottom line was the US taxpayer made money on that deal.
- We bailed out Mexico in the 90’s, and made money on the deal.
- We bailed out Chrysler and they ended up paying the money back with interest before it was due.
There are several other examples over the years of the Taxpayer bailing out institutions and coming out ahead.
The only way for this deal to go through is for the American people to back it. Congress is made up of wimps. They stick there finger in the air and see what’s blowing. Right now, the voice of the people is blowing NO! They need political cover so the President must move the people berfore Cogress will move.
If this deal is such a good thing for the country, explain it to the country. Explain the deal with “kitchen table” issues.
- Not financial markets – it’s our retirement plans.
- Not credit drying up – it’s car dealers going out of business because people cannot get car loans.
- Not bank failures – it’s not being able to cash the paycheck you got Friday.
- Not housing market crashing – it’s you owing more on your mortage than your house is worth.
President Bush, you have the opportunity to exit your administration on a real positive note if you get this deal done and the economy is stablized. Don’t blow it.
October 20 Edit.
Too late, he blew it.
KRJ