Bush's Bull's-Eyes

Leadership: If you wonder why we run many of President Bush's speeches verbatim, we can think of at least three reasons — the most important of which is that most of what he says is right on the money.The other two are that (a) Bush's speeches are rarely covered in any depth by mainstream media hostile to much of what he says, and (b) when the speeches are covered, only a couple of points — of interest to selfsame media — usually are highlighted.

With so many problems confronting the U.S., it's a shame there isn't more direct, unfettered communication between the people and their president. Maybe if the public was given a chance to hear the president out, the president wouldn't be held in such low esteem in public opinion polls.

Bush's address Friday to the Economic Club of New York was only the latest in which he has spoken forcefully and authoritatively on a major issue.

The economy, we're told, suddenly tops Americans' list of concerns (now that it's doing poorly, as the media keep reminding us, and that the previous No. 1 concern, the war in Iraq, is going well, as the media are loath to report).

Sure enough, the first headlines to cross the wires — "Bush Concedes Economy Troubled" and "Bush Acknowledges Weakness In U.S. Economy" — read just as we expected. And let's face it, many people never get the past the headlines.

The Bush we watched and listened to, however, brought to mind anything but "trouble" or "weakness." As in other recent speeches, he spoke passionately about America's ability to rebound from economic downturns — and indeed its remarkable performance in the face of almost unprecedented difficulties in the past seven years.

He also struck us as a man of action, armed with very specific (and compassionate) plans to deal with the economic slowdown and the housing crisis that brought it on.

As always, the policies Bush set out were backed by the soundest of economic principles. Note his concern about government actions "that will make it harder for the markets to recover — and when they (do) recover, make it harder for this economy to be robust."

Note also his avid support of free trade in general and the pending trade pact with Colombia in particular. "Devastating" is not too strong a word, in our opinion, to describe the consequences if Congress turns its back on this important Latin American ally.

Bush's principled stands were even more in evidence in the brief question-and-answer period that followed his speech (and which we didn't have room to include). There, he spoke of the "easy politics" of protectionism, isolationism and even nativism.

"Probably the most grim reminder of what can happen to America during periods of isolationism and protectionism is what happened in the '30s, when we had this 'America first' policy, and (the) Smoot-Hawley (tariff). And look where it got us."

But Bush also was blunt in the Q&A in acknowledging that America's energy policy "has not been wise." "You can't build a refinery in the United States," he noted. "You can't expand a refinery in the United States. The Congress believes we shouldn't be drilling for oil and gas in a productive part of our country like ANWR because it will destroy the environment, which in fact it won't.

"Technology is such that it will enable us to find more oil and gas. And so, as a result of us not having been robust in exploring for oil and gas at home, we're dependent on other countries."

In these and other messages, this president is — to borrow a favorite phrase of his critics — speaking "truth to power." Problem is, he's not getting a fair listen.