Gone was the presidential smirk – this was a deadly serious business as he addressed the nation

Published on Thursday 25 September 2008 21:52

ORDINARY Americans knew it was serious. Gone was the trademark smirk and the optimism that George Bush has carried through the crises of 9/11, the Iraq invasion and Hurricane Katrina, as he laid out just how real the threat of catastrophe now is.

"We have seen triple-digit swings in the stock market. Major financial institutions have teetered on the edge of collapse, and some have failed," he told his citizens. "The entire economy is in danger. Without immediate action by Congress, America can slip into a major panic."

The last time Americans heard such words, they came from an embattled president, Herbert Hoover, in the run-up to the 1932 election, the midst of the Great Depression.

"I desire to speak so simply and so plainly that every man and woman in the United States who may hear or read my words cannot misunderstand," said Mr Hoover. He told them that the preceding three years had been "a time of unparalleled economic calamity".

Mr Hoover, like Mr Bush, was pushing a cash injection for banks but stopped short of root-and-branch reform. His plan, and the election, was swept away by Democrat Franklin D Roosevelt and his promise of a New Deal.

As Mr Bush's speech finished, the airwaves and blogospheres exploded in a frenzy of criticism, with most blaming the president for being too close to the bankers.

"With this $700 billion we can actually give a rebate to all the home-owners," complained Don Mejia, of San Antonio, Texas. "Instead of benefiting the big-money banks, benefit us. That's fair."

Others said Mr Bush created the mess by changing the laws to benefit banks at the cost of ordinary people.

"Change the bankruptcy laws back to the same they were before the Bush bankruptcy overhaul," said George Craig, of Atlanta, Georgia. "The week after they were changed, I received about 50 invitations to get credit cards."

Rather than unite Americans, the Bush speech has further divided them, with the White House and Congress now engaged in a gigantic game of chicken as the markets quiver.

The Democrat-controlled Congress is furious that the bail-out plan demands they surrender the right to oversee how it is implemented, and also exempts the Bush administration from court action as a result of its decisions.

Commentators say that one side or the other must give ground at frantic talks likely to stretch over the weekend or, come Monday, the stock market will crash.

Bush already has the worst ratings of any president since Richard Nixon, but some support remains. "In future years, Bush will go down as a great leader, I'm sure," said New Yorker Mimi Rosen, in the city's Union Square. "He has had to make difficult decisions."

That much is undisputed.