Bush vows 'bold steps' to revive economy

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By Jon Ward and Betsy Pisik

UNITED NATIONS | President Bush on Tuesday assured world leaders that the United States is taking "bold steps" to solve its economic crisis, but spent most of his speech dwelling on his familiar themes of combating terrorism and promoting democracy.

Although Mr. Bush was making his final appearance before the world body, the U.S. financial crisis diverted much of the attention at the annual meeting of heads of state. Mr. Bush also competed for media attention with Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

Mrs. Palin, who until last year did not have a passport, met with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger on the sidelines of the gathering. Republican campaign aides initially blocked reporters from the start of the meetings. Spokesmen said Mrs. Palin, who is preparing for a debate next month, discussed the need for more troops in Afghanistan and energy security.

Mr. Bush told fellow heads of state, "I can assure you that my administration and our Congress are working together to quickly pass legislation" to deal with the U.S. financial meltdown. Those remarks, however, were made at the end of the president's speech and comprised only two of 32 paragraphs.

The brief reference to the economy contrasted with the remarks of other leaders.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy called the current situation "the most serious economic crisis that the world has experienced since that of the 1930s."

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the world was facing a "harsh reality" and that "the global nature of this crisis means the solutions we adopt must also be global."

Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner denounced "a casino economy or an economy of fiction where it was thought that only capitalism can produce money.... Money on its own does not produce more money. It has to go through the circuit of production, work, knowledge, services and goods."

White House officials said the focus of Mr. Bush's was properly measured, and they pointed to more extensive comments the president made earlier Tuesday.

"One of the things I've heard here in my stay thus far in New York is from world leaders wondering whether or not the United States has the right plan to deal with this economic crisis," Mr. Bush said during a meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari. "And I've assured them that the plan laid out by [Treasury Secretary Henry] Paulson is a robust plan to deal with a serious problem."