Bush seeks to assure leaders about bailout plan

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-09-23 07:58

NEW YORK - US President Bush sought to assure anxious world leaders on Monday that the United States is taking "bold, aggressive, decisive action" to rescue the crisis-ridden economy with a $700 billion bailout package.

"The whole world is watching to see if we can act quickly," Bush said, prodding lawmakers in Washington to approve his plan.

US President George W. Bush, seen here boarding Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, hopes to comfort worried world leaders at the UN General Assembly that he is doing his utmost to contain the damage from the US financial meltdown, the White House said Monday. [Agencies]

Bush balanced the economic meltdown with foreign policy problems from Pakistan and North Korea to Russia and Iran as he opened three days of diplomacy with presidents and prime ministers assembled for the annual ministerial meeting of the UN General Assembly.

The activities were opening with a reception Monday night for foreign delegations hosted by Bush and his wife, Laura, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

After seven years of criticizing the UN for its huge, costly bureaucracy and indecisiveness in the face of grave problems, Bush will make his final address to the General Assembly on Tuesday. His speech, scheduled to last 15 minutes, was to stress the need for multinational diplomacy .

The burgeoning financial crisis in the United States, anchored on Wall Street not far from Bush's hotel, overshadowed his UN visit. Bush is in the awkward position of advocating capitalism, free-trade and deregulation throughout this presidency but then overseeing a costly government takeover of failing financial institutions.

White House press secretary Dana Perino, explaining Bush's turnabout, said "this was not the president's first instinct; that he would not have wanted to take this action to help these companies if he wasn't convinced by the considered judgment of his senior economic team that it was critical in order to protect the American taxpayers and the American economy as a whole."

With the US economy inextricably intertwined with the finances of other countries, the turmoil from Wall Street to Main Street will naturally be a topic of Bush's discussions in New York, Perino said.

Before leaving Washington, Bush said differences over details of the administration's bailout plan were understandable. But he warned lawmakers not to bog down.

"Americans are watching to see if Democrats and Republicans, the Congress and the White House, can come together to solve this problem with the urgency it warrants," Bush said. "Indeed, the whole world is watching to see if we can act quickly."

Bush, on his way to New York, stopped in New Jersey to raise money for two GOP congressional candidates. About 200 people attended the event in an affluent area of Colts Neck, N.J., that benefited Chris Myers and state Sen. Leonard Lance. Tickets ranged from $1,000 to $10,000 for a photo with the president.