Missing in Action

Catherine Dodge and John Brinsley of Bloomberg note:

This week, President George W. Bush held a state dinner for Ghana's president, surveyed Texas hurricane damage, posed with Youth of the Year award finalists, and met with Army General David Petraeus.

Until today, Bush had publicly uttered 160 words about the worst Wall Street crisis since the Great Depression, saying on Sept. 15 that the government was working to ``reduce disruptions'' in U.S. financial markets.

After three days of financial turmoil, Bush canceled a scheduled fundraising trip and stepped before television cameras this morning to read a statement of assurance that the government is hard at work to resolve the market meltdown.

``My administration is focused on meeting these challenges,'' Bush said in a two-minute statement. ``The American people can be sure we will continue to act to strengthen and stabilize our financial markets and improve investor confidence.''

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had been the voice of the administration as he and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke confronted the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the sale of Merrill Lynch & Co., the biggest stock market drop in seven years, and a government takeover of American International Group Inc. For three days, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 800 points, the president's absence had been conspicuous.