My favorite line from the NYT coverage of Bush’s speech on the economy:
Still, Mr. Bush must be careful not to depress the economy with pessimistic talk, and so his speech in Chicago on Monday offered a delicate balancing act.
There are many things which are capable of depressing the economy. Pessimistic talk from George W Bush, I think it’s fair to say, is not one of them. Indeed, the opposite is probably the case: the more pessimistic Bush sounds, the more likely a stimulus package becomes, and the perkier the markets are likely to get. I certainly don’t think any investors consider Bush to have privileged information about the economy which they lack.