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10:20am Wednesday- President Bush holds a press conference to trump coverage of Fed. Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony before the Senate Housing and Banking Committee.

From McClatchy

A gloomy day for the economy, except at the White House

President Bush began Tuesday trying to calm consumers troubled by an increasingly shaky economy, but his words had little effect. By the end of the day, the Dow had closed at its lowest level in two years, the government reported that prices had jumped at their sharpest pace in 27 years, and the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board warned that “significant challenges” lie ahead.
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From USNews.com

Bush out of touch on the economy?

Amid the overwhelmingly negative coverage on the US economy, some press reports are casting President Bush’s comments on the health of the economy and the US banking system as overly optimistic. McClatchy, in a dispatch titled “A Gloomy Day For The Economy, Except At The White House,” reports the economic “turmoil” yesterday “clouded Bush’s effort to use his first news conference since April to provide reassurance.” The President “remained cautiously upbeat, sometimes with a gritty stay-the-course line, sometimes by telling folksy tales to illustrate his points.”

The AP notes the President also “defended his insistence that the US economy was not in a recession, even though many economists believe it is,” and USA Today reports, “Despite soaring gas and food prices and big declines in the stock market, the president insisted that ‘our economy has demonstrated remarkable resilience,’” and “cited a 5.5% unemployment rate, slow first-quarter growth and expanding trade and productivity as reasons for consumers to have confidence.” In a follow-up analysis, USA Today notes “It’s a message that’s been delivered by presidents before in times of economic trouble. ‘Herbert Hoover kept telling the country during the Depression that “things are sound, it’s the usual business cycle, and it will turn in the right direction,”‘ said presidential historian Robert Dallek.”

Bill O’Reilly, on Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor said, “The economy is wobbling badly. People are scared.” The President was shown saying, “I’m not an economist. But I do believe we are growing. I can remember, you know, this press conference here, people yelling recession this, recession that, as if you are economists. I’m an optimist.” O’Reilly added, “Well, he is also a rich guy. The question is: Should people who aren’t rich guys be worried? … He came across a little arrogant there, the President did. … The economy is frightening a lot of people.”