Signaling a Shift to Europe's Path

President Bush makes remarks on the nation's economic situation in the Rose Garden after meeting with Treasury officials in Washington. (By Bill O'leary -- The Washington Post)
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Fleischer recalls a meeting in Prague in 2002 when Bush told Czech President Vaclav Havel that "everyone thinks I'm a cowboy with a six-shooter, but I prefer to have a posse."

Fleischer said: "I always made the case that Bush always sought to do things in a multilateral way, and that it was a bad rap that he was a cowboy and a unilateralist and all that. Rhetorically, he always sounded like the toughest guy on the block, but in reality he always took a multilateral, cooperative approach whenever he could."

Bush's embrace of state intervention also seems remarkable for a president who has long opposed what he viewed as excessive government involvement in the financial markets. During the 2000 presidential campaign, for example, Bush opposed a proposal by then-President Bill Clinton to invest some surplus Social Security funds in the stock market. Bush favored allowing young workers to invest a portion of their own payroll tax instead.

Scott McClellan, another former White House press secretary who worked closely with Bush, said the latest economic moves are part of "a more pragmatic side of the president" that has become more visible during his second term.

"I imagine the president is not thrilled by the idea of a partial nationalization of those banks," McClellan said. "But, obviously, they came to the realization that they had no real choice."

Current press secretary Dana Perino told reporters yesterday that Bush is focused on "helping to provide the leadership necessary to steer his ship, so that we can all save our economies." Perino also said that "there's not a soul that wanted to have to do this."

"I would imagine that there was probably some reluctance to move forward with this, but a willingness to do it, because everyone recognizes that we have to do it in order to protect everybody and to get this economy moving again," Perino said.

Staff writer Glenn Kessler contributed to this report.