ECONOMY OBAMA'S 9/11...?:In facing the economic crisis, the president may have more in common with his predecessor than he thinks

Ideologically,President Obama and former President George W.Bush are worlds apart.But their political instincts are surprisingly in synch. Crises, their aides say, are also opportunities.The Bush administration demonstrated this in the wide-ranging policy changes sought and implemented after the Sept. 11 attacks.And the Obama administration is attempting to do the same in the wake of what it calls the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. "We're not facing these economic challenges because of one thing.We're not going to get out by solving one thing," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. After the Sept. 11 attacks,Bush re-evaluated what the country should consider a threat to security, famously declaring the U.S. couldn't wait to find a "smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud."Fast forward two terms. With the Dow worth about half what it was a year ago, Obama is proposing what could be a $1 trillion health care reform, in addition to the $787 billion stimulus package, to address the economic crisis on all fronts.Obama says there's no time to wait."If we don't tackle health care then we're going to break the bank,"Obama said.Analysts and historians say the two presidents' reasoning is the same."They really are trying to push their own policies to the max," said Stephen Hess, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who has worked in several administrations. Obama's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also suggested an even broader agenda, quoting White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel as saying,"never waste a good crisis." "When it comes to the economic crisis, don't waste it, when it can have a very positive impact on climate change and energy security," Clinton said Friday.Bush and Obama were hardly the first U.S. presidents to use a crisis to fulfill broader objectives.Going back further, political analysts note that after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor,President Franklin Roosevelt ignored public opinion and aimed most of the country's military might at Germany. "Roosevelt acted against the unanimous advice of his military chiefs because he thought the European Theater was most important," said Michael Barone, senior writer for U.S. News & World Report."While each president is dealt a different hand, we expect that each president will use the powers of the office to take advantage of that," Hess said.But there are risks to this, as seen under the Bush administration.Public dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq made it more difficult for Bush to get the troop levels he needed for the surge.Likewise, a fight over health care could cost Obama the political support he needs to help the country weather an economy he's warned will get worse before it gets better.But Obama's aides say the country's economic house is on fire, and broad action is necessary."Which room are you going to put out first? Or are you going to call the fire department and ask them to put all of it out?" Gibbs said.
FOX News' Wendell Goler contributed to this report. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/09/economic-crisis-obamas/
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