“The President needs to turn the lights back on in the Oval Office and address the nation in short order,\" Rep. Rahm Emanuel said. Dems accuse Bush of hiding

After eight years of jabbing at President Bush, House and Senate Democrats have seized on a new theme: He’s hiding behind Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson in pushing the bank bailout plan.

“An economy in crisis cannot be led by a silent president,” Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, said in a statement labeled “President Bush’s Lack of Leadership.”

“The president needs to turn the lights back on in the Oval Office and address the nation in short order.”


Paulson, a former Goldman Sachs chairman, remains popular on Wall Street. Bush has kept an extremely low profile since markets tumbled a week ago.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) took a similar approach with a statement over the weekend.

“I call on the president to better explain to the public the severity of the threat all Americans face, and why he believes his approach is needed,” Reid said.

By undermining Bush, Democrats are able to put some distance between themselves and the administration without directly attacking a plan that the nation’s financial leadership has said is necessary to avoid a credit meltdown.