Q Tony, is it the world "bailout" that you think did you in yesterday? Listening to you and Gillespie and even the President talking about opponents of the bill and the way in which you avoid that word -- is that what you're trying to disabuse Americans of, that it was a bailout?

MR. FRATTO: I think it's really unfortunate shorthand for a very complicated issue. You all know me; I'm not someone who bashes the media. I think I've been clear; this is a very difficult issue for everyone to communicate on. But we presented ideas that were -- that talked about a very specific problem in our economy and what our goal was to try to correct that problem. Our critics took the language of a bailout for Wall Street. And I think it's undeniable that the media chose that branding of this debate -- and I see it on all the scrolls, I see it in the headlines. Like I said, I'm not bashing the media, but I'm saying that was unfortunate to take the language of the critics to brand what this policy debate is about.

It is not a bailout for Wall Street. It is certainly not a bailout for Wall Street CEOs. It is an effort to fix this problem of a frozen asset class that has implications over our entire economy.

We have a couple days here now where we're going to work with Congress and we're going to continue to communicate on this. And hopefully we can do a better job of making clear just what our goal is and what we're trying to fix. Maybe more American people will be able to see that and hopefully more members of Congress.

Ben, why don't we go to --

seen at 09:00, 30 September in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
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