No Magic From the GOP Version of Penn and Teller

"There's very little a candidate for president -- and, after watching today, very little a president -- can say about what's happening in the stock market," Rick Davis told reporters after the president's Rose Garden statement, as a way to explain McCain's silence on the market plunge.

But maybe Bush isn't getting enough credit for his performance in the economic crisis. For years, his critics have scolded him for failing to come up with a global warming plan and an energy policy, but now he has achieved both. With the economy crashing, gas prices are down sharply on recession fears. And with industry collapsing, carbon emissions are bound to be lower.

The White House tried to add some frills to the bully pulpit for yesterday's attempt at market calming. They brought out the presidential lectern and placed it at an angle that would make the Oval Office the backdrop. The arranged planting boxes full of bronze mums framed the podium, and an aide scurried over to remove a clump that had fallen a few minutes before the speech.

Bush skipped the happy talk that has discredited so many of his war speeches and gave a frank assessment. "We have witnessed a startling drop in the stock market -- much of it driven by uncertainty and fear," he said. "This has been a deeply unsettling period for the American people."

His emotions seemed to swing with his words. He allowed himself a slight smile as he promised to "restore stability to our markets," and he shifted his feet as he warned that "anxiety can feed anxiety."

There were moments, of course, when Bush was being Bush. He accidentally said "we are exercising" the rescue plan before making that "executing," and White House stenographers saw fit to add a "sic" when he said the Treasury was doing many things "to help bank rebuild capital." He threw in the obligatory heck-of-a-job praise for his advisers ("we have an outstanding economic team carrying out this effort"), and the usual assertion that his views are unassailable ("it is the right plan").

But he avoided his tendency to sugarcoat. "Our system of credit has frozen," he said, and "key markets are not functioning." And he eschewed his bring-'em-on bravado as he pledged: "We know what the problems are, we have the tools we need to fix them, and we're working swiftly to do so."

The president turned to go, ignoring a reporter's question about whether the government could sustain its intervention in the markets. Only when Bush got to Coral Gables for his fundraiser did the market begin to trim its losses.