In case you missed it, President Bush and Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke both gave speeches last Tuesday morning, July 15, about the state of the economy. Evidently, they didn’t share talking points beforehand.
Both men spoke at 10:20 a.m.—Bush to the American people, Bernanke to Congress. Side by side, the speeches struck different tones: Bush took an optimistic stance, noting that unemployment, while up, is still historically low, and that the economy, while weakening, is still growing and noted that retail sales were recently up. At the same time, across town, up on Capitol Hill, Bernanke affected a dour countenance, telling Congress about the “many serious challenges the economy still faces.”
“The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” had a field day with the optimistic/pessimistic descriptions of the economy. Click here to watch the clip. (It should be noted that the speeches were not in fact contradictory, but the clip is an amusing poke at the president.)
