President Bush has given an uninspiring performance in a speech designed to boost public confidence. The Nation reports on the Presidents invite to his potential successors to join him in the next public address.

John Nichols from The Nation examines a President cowering under scrutiny and speculates on the chances of his successors:

“Herbert Hoover did not have the option of making a televised speech to the nation as the Great Depression unfolded.

That was, undoubtedly, a good thing–for Hoover and the nation.

Hoover was spared the responsibility of what George Bush took on Wednesday night–that of trying to explain a dramatic economic downtown without taking responsibility for the definitional role that his wrongheaded policies had in causing the crisis.

And the country was spared the painful image of scared president clutching a White House podium so tightly that his tension was audible.”

Read the full story here.