The stock market is in free fall, the people in power don't seem to know what to do about it. My family sold off almost all their stock holdings yesterday and it looks as if we are part of a mob of people just bailing out. I think it's called panic.
Our country desperately needs reassurance that we will rise above the terrible mess these guys have gotten us into and all we get are the stuttering, frightened-sounding pronouncements of Mr. Paulson (who just seems baffled) and a President who comes out once every few days for about 2 minutes and tells us to be scared. Barack has just the demeanor to calm everyone down, but he doesn't have the power.
Obama is cautiously supporting the actions of the Treasury and the Fed and keeping his cool. Meanwhile, John McCain, in his own self-inflicted panic, only wants to scare the country more by turning his opponent into a alien space-invader/terrorist/wierdo. This is not a good scenario.
I'm starting this thread with the hope that better minds than mine will have some good ideas about how he can step up to the plate TODAY and begin to lead the country through the emotional morass we are facing. I hope that this diary will generate the kinds of ideas which will get Obama's attention so try to stick closely to the issue at hand and think hard and creatively about how to get around the fact that he hasn't been elected yet - he shouldn't look like he's usurping, but he needs to do something. This is not a partisan thing any more. Barack is going to be our President. He will have to clean up this mess. It would be appropriate for him to begin the calming process which will be a necessary component.
UPDATE - As I was posting this, someone posted the diary announcing that he will be doing a TV special on the 29th. This is probably a direct response our anxiety about the economy, but it's too far away. That's almost 3 weeks away. I hope he'll do something much sooner than that to try to quell the panic that is setting in.