Those are points of pride to the Treasury as well, said Snow's chief spokesman, Rob Nichols. Snow goes to Wall Street every two to three weeks, holds roundtables with prominent economists from brokerage houses, and on specific subjects, such as China, summons importers, exporters, manufacturing and finance experts before making policy statements.
But, these same economists complained, the public comments of administration officials -- especially Snow -- tend toward boosterism, no matter the audience or the economic news at the moment.
"The secretary of Treasury has done a more than adequate job expositing the views of the president," said Allen Sinai, president and chief economist of Decision Economics Inc. But, he added, "Is he a brilliant leader of policy, creatively dealing with the issues? Look, what I've not seen from this administration is a clear articulation of policy for the future."
In February, after the economy added a disappointing 83,000 jobs, Snow told an audience at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, a prominent private, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Washington, "The president's tax cuts have worked." In April, with jobs rising smartly but record trade and budget deficits weighing on bond traders' minds, he told the Bond Market Association in New York, "We're on very solid footing, our upward trend is strong, and there can be no doubt that President Bush's leadership on tax cuts has made a decisive difference."
In May, when the unemployment rate of 20- to 24-year-olds had risen to 9.7 percent, from 9.2 percent the month before, he told graduates at Kenyon College in Ohio, "The job market is ripe for you right now."
On Thursday, Snow told employees of a ventilation company in Springfield, Mo., "The tax cuts . . . are a critical part of the reason why I am able to report that our national economy has found its footing." Meanwhile, in New York, the Conference Board, a business research firm, reported a second straight monthly decline in its index of leading economic indicators. "The latest decline in the leading index reflects a loss of forward momentum," said Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein, citing "worries about where economic growth will come from now that tax refunds have been spent."
Suzy DeFrancis, a deputy assistant to the president who helps coordinate the administration's economic message, said that, far from mere boosterism, administration officials "are giving an accurate picture of what the economy looks like at any given time."
But the current message of economic rebirth is "only working moderately well" with voters, and repeating it in the face of contrary news is not going to help, said Frank Luntz, a pollster and focus group organizer. "I think these guys need to have a real education session with the American people," he said.
"There's a discussion of what's positive -- that's natural -- but there's not a discussion of the risks. There's discussion of tax cuts, and their gains, but not their costs," said Sinai of Decision Economics. "Leveling with Americans on risk, on the facts of life, on really why things are done, and even admitting that mistakes have been made, I think Americans understand all that. And I don't think we're getting leveled with."
Without a more explicit economic plan, interested parties can fill in the blanks. In recent days, taking advantage of statements by the president as well as a government study issued in Washington, Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.), the Democratic presidential nominee, charged that Bush will push a regressive, national sales tax if reelected, will slash spending on veterans and will further shift the federal tax burden from the rich to the middle class.
"Because there's this huge intellectual void, anybody with an idea of the day has the policy of the day, until it is shot down by the next idea," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), who was a political strategist in the Clinton White House.
Bush campaign manager Ken Mehlman said the president will unveil concrete proposals for his next term in his speech to the convention and in the run-up to Election Day. But skeptics, many of them supporters, are beginning to doubt the president will get much beyond general themes such as "ownership" or "tax simplification."
"When you're on the campaign trail with all these politicos who know nothing about the economy and are saying, 'We've got to do something,' there's got to be pressure to come up with something at least rhetorically beyond 'Four More Years,' " said Bruce Bartlett, a conservative economist and commentator. "But as far as I can see, there's nothing."
