Bush Keeps Collecting Them!

Leave it to President George W. Bush to turn the economic crisis into an opportunity for winning yet another Chutzpah of the Week award, bumping his count up to eleven. Within this very hour, as reported by Al Jazeera English, our President has offered his wisdom (sic) with all the keen perception of General William Westmoreland's light-and-the-end-of-the-tunnel reasoning:

There is no disagreement that something substantial must be done. We are going to get a package passed.

I am reminded of a former colleague who once asked me (rhetorically) if there was any such thing as "negative information." I suppose we should be grateful that a content-free statement is better than taking an action that would only make matters worse, such as the meeting convened yesterday at the White House, which Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd accurately described as a "photo op and political theatre that had nothing to do with us getting to work." This is nothing less than the chutzpah of trying to "appear Presidential" when the best course of action would be to shut up and let those who know what they are doing "get to work." Fortunately, no taxpayer dollars are spent in financing the Chutzpah of the Week awards; so I have no "economic guilt" in adding this one to the President's collection!