Home arrow Opinions arrow George W. Bush didn't understand economic problems as president
Sep 16 2009
George W. Bush didn't understand economic problems as president | Print |  E-mail
By Shahram Vahdany   

Bush - ex-speechwriter in new book

It seemed like every time President George W. Bush stepped before the cameras during last fall's stock market meltdown, the Dow tumbled.

It's a good thing the public couldn't see what was going on behind the scenes at the White House, according to an insider's account.

Bush is pictured as a desperate, bumbling lame duck with little grasp of the economic turmoil around him in the tell-all book by ex-speechwriter Matt Latimer in "Speech-Less: Tales of a White House Survivor."

Hours before Bush was to give a speech last September outlining the administration's $700 billion plan to buy up troubled mortgages, for instance, Latimer writes that Bush clearly didn't understand his own plan.

"We're buying low and selling high," Latimer quotes Bush as saying over and over in an excerpt posted yesterday on GQ's men.style.com Web site.

"The problem was that his proposal didn't work like that," Latimer noted.

Finally, after some staffers explained to Bush that his mortgage bailout plan included no such likely return, Bush barked: "Why did I sign on to this proposal if I don't understand what it does?" Latimer writes.

Perhaps this wasn't surprising, Latimer suggests, in a White House where one of the top economic advisers was Bush buddy Al Hubbard, who comes off sounding more like Otter in "Animal House."

"The only thing I knew about Al," writes Latimer, "was that he went around putting whoopee cushions on people's chairs in the West Wing."

A Bush aide has denounced Latimer's book as an "act of betrayal."

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/

Recommend this article...




Did you enjoy this article? Please bookmark it onto:
Digg!Reddit!Del.icio.us!Newsvine!Blogmarks!Yahoo!

Quote this article on your site | Views: 3955

Be first to comment this article
RSS comments

Write Comment
  • Please keep the topic of messages relevant to the subject of the article.
  • Personal verbal attacks will be deleted.
  • Please don't use comments to plug your web site. Such material will be removed.
  • Just ensure to *Refresh* your browser for a new security code to be displayed prior to clicking on the 'Send' button.
  • Keep in mind that the above process only applies if you simply entered the wrong security code.
Name:
E-mail
Homepage
Title:
BBCode:Web AddressEmail AddressBold TextItalic TextUnderlined TextQuoteCodeOpen ListList ItemClose List
Comment:

Code:* Code
I wish to be contacted by email regarding additional comments

Powered by AkoComment Tweaked Special Edition v.1.4.4

 
< Prev Content   Next Content >
 

Translate

Enter Amount: