The 28 Percent President

And are you looking for a simple explanation of why John McCain is trailing Barack Obama in the polls? The AP poll finds that by a 2-1 margin, Americans believe McCain would generally continue Bush's economic policies. And by a more than 4-1 margin, they believe he would generally continue Bush's Iraq policies.

Ignored

Kenneth R. Bazinet and David Saltonsall write in the New York Daily News: "On a day that saw one economic bombshell after another, President Bush squinted, smirked and grimaced into the future Tuesday, declaring - contrary to a growing mountain of evidence - that the country's financial system is 'basically sound.'

"'I'm an optimist,' a sometimes testy Bush said in his first White House news conference since April. 'I believe there's a lot of positive things for our economy.'

"For all of Bush's bullishness, everyone from Wall Street kingpins to small-fry depositors seemed increasingly edgy as the U.S. economy hit one new low after another."

Maura Reynolds and Walter Hamilton write in the Los Angeles Times: "President Bush sought to calm the contagion of fear in financial markets Tuesday, but his upbeat tone was out of sync with a sobering new assessment from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, a jump in the prices manufacturers pay for raw materials and other unsettling economic portents."

David Lightman and Tony Pugh write for McClatchy Newspapers: "President Bush began Tuesday trying to calm consumers troubled by an increasingly shaky economy, but his words had little effect. . . .

"Even the administration's plan to support the mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- hurriedly announced over the weekend -- didn't stem the tide. Both enterprises saw their stocks drop more than 25 percent.

"The turmoil -- the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day at 10,962, the first time it had closed below 11,000 in two years -- clouded Bush's effort to use his first news conference since April to provide reassurance."

Richard Wolf writes for USA Today "President Bush declared himself an optimist, not an economist, Tuesday -- and a good thing, too."

Wolf writes that Bush's expression of confidence in the economy is "a message that has 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," ' presidential historian Robert Dallek said.

"'Presidents become desperate to reassure the nation that they have a handle on things,' Dallek said.