US President Bush is currently holding a news conference addressing the US economy at the White House.

One of his main points was to call out Congress for blocking his proposals to address the (economic) problems.

He called on Congress to pass sensible and effective bills in order to keep the economy moving forward through focusing on energy, food prices, mortgage payment and student loans.

Bravo, Mr. Bush. In essence you have just stated that “I tried, you wouldn’t listen! So now it’s your problem Congress, deal with it!”. Energy, inflation, the housing mess & student loans are no longer the problem of the President. So what exactly will you be doing, Mr. Bush, for the next 8 months?

Reuters has an article on President Bush’s recent comments at a summit with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon.

He said: “We’re not in recession, we’re in a slowdown”

This, ladies and gentlemen, is reason number #452 that Mr. Bush will go down in history as one of the worst US presidents.

Now, technically he’s right (ghastly, I know). The textbook definition of a recession is at least two quarters of negative growth in an economy. We’re not there yet, but all the signs on the road point are pointing to one, perhaps even a deep one.

The reason that this comment strikes me so hard, is the tone. He knows a recession is on the horizon. His advisers have shurley briefed him on that. He could have made a statement on things every day americans need to do in order to protect themselves during tough times. He could have made a statement calling for americans to rally and support the economy. Instead, he asked Congress not to raise taxes. That might be a good idea, but not an inspiring one.