Bush: This Crisis Goes Up To 11...9/11

By Cernig

Bush has made an address to the nation which Steve Clemons notes pushed all the right buttons to stampede Joe Public. This crisis, like a Spinal tap concert, goes all the way up to 11...9/11.

Tonight, George Bush succeeded I think in scaring Americans that this crisis could be a systemic threat. Bush said "our entire economy is in danger."

That's the fear button. He pushed it. And he said the clock was ticking.

This seems like a bad episode of "24."

What is shocking about the presentation by Bush -- and the deal that is unfolding is that we don't see any acceptance of responsibility for the failure of his team's stewardship of the economy. We didn't hear acknowledgment that the compulsive deregulation mantra of Bush's political and economic allies created a massive bubble where lots of billionaires were created and now tens of millions of less fortunate Americans are holding the bill.

We didn't hear Bush say that it's time to reverse the tax cuts that he put in place to help those who have already benefited from the perverse finance and housing bubble that was pumped up.

Yet we know the Bush administration was working on the paulson plan for at least a month before it was revealed. They could have chosen to do their bipartisan talking back then and come up with an agreement that everyone would back, one that would work. Instead, they're using "shock and awe" to steamroller America into a set of hasty, bad decisions that would hand the administration unprecedented power - just as they did after 9/11.

It's almost as if they're thinking "Let’s see if we can get the rest."