Friday, November 21, 2008

CNN--"someone needs to speak up"

CNN has a headline story today, titled "Some one has to speak up on the economy." They note the the President and the President-elect are both keeping radio silence on the topic of the economy.

Careful readers of this blog (that means me and my dog) will note that I have been calling for Clinton-Bush I leadership on this issue for some time. I can understand why it would have been difficult during the campaign, but this is getting serious. The markets are approaching free-fall, and there is some serious panicking going on. The lame-duck President is silent, for obvious reasons--it's too late and he doesn't have anything to say anyway. Our President-Elect is silent because he's not the President yet, and he doesn't have time to be making serious economic policy addresses.

Who has time, political capital, respect, and the guaranteed attention of the press and foreign leaders? Former Presidents Clinton and Bush I, that's who. If they would speak jointly and without the filter of politicization about the continued efficiency of the American workforce, about the need to continue to invest in our infrastructure, and about our American "can-do" attitude that we can work ourselves out of any temporary setbacks, I think people would listen. We desperately need leadership on this issue.


C'mon Bill. Get over here, George. What are you waiting for?

2 comments:

I Drink and I Know Things... said...

I'm a careful reader of your blog, and I'm not nearly as studious as your dog. So there are other readers out here. Bill is probably functionally silenced now that Hillary will be Secretary of State -I'm guessing. But we do need SOMETHING.

Nina said...

I don't think he should be silenced on this issue. I'm not talking about a policy address, I'm talking about a show of enthusiasm and support and HOPE, gosh darnit. I'm talking about what they pulled together after the tsunami, and what, really, only they can do, precisely because they aren't in office.

No one is talking, and as you know better than most, in a crisis nothing spreads faster than fear and rumor, especially when there is a lack of trustworthy information coming from political leaders. This is disaster 101. Communicate clearly and act like you have a plan until you have one.