The president who famously told Americans to go shopping after 9/11 (oh, I'm sorry -- we were told to demonstrate "confidence in the American economy") apparently has a limit to proscribing behavior for the people who elected him. Put simply, George Bush is okay with telling folks to spend money but not to conserve energy.
Quoth Bush, at yesterday's White House press conference:
[I]t's a little presumptuous on my part to dictate to consumers how they live their lives. The American people are plenty capable and plenty smart people and they'll make adjustments to their own pocketbooks. That's why I was so much in favor of letting them keep more of their own money. It's a philosophical difference: Should the government spend their money, or should they spend their own money? And I've got faith in the American people.
Avoiding the appearance of presumptuousness is a fairly new guiding principle for this administration, is it not?
