Obama - "Economy not as bad as we think"

WASHINGTON -- President Obama is embracing a mantle of confidence-builder in chief. Whether he is meeting with his own economic advisers or worried business leaders, his message is meant to be calm and reassuring -- even in the wake of more bad economic news.

Obama will have another opportunity to assert his optimism after he meets Friday with Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman who now guides the president's economic recovery advisory board. Volcker was preparing to brief Obama and his economic team on how the $787 billion stimulus package is working.

Speaking to a gathering of the nation's CEOs on Thursday, Obama defended his plans for pulling the economy out of a downward spiral, saying that his long-term view gives him reason to maintain optimism despite an uptick in unemployment and falling economic indicators.

"I've never bought into these Malthusian, woe, Chicken Little, the earth is falling. I tend to be pretty optimistic," said Obama, once a long-shot candidate for the White House. "I wouldn't be here if I weren't pretty optimistic."

The president boldly declared that the national crisis is "not as bad as we think" and that he has seen public opinion seesaw without logic. - FOX News Story

Now isn't that a change in rhetoric. He is quoted as saying he never bought into the Sky is falling, I seem to recall during the whole stimulus debate that was exactly what he was saying. If it didn't pass immediately the world was going to end. I remember the Millions of Dollars we spent as he shuttled his campaign across the US, Ohio, Florida, Colorado, to tell how bad we need his stimulus to pass.

Now he is talking out another part of his anatomy saying it isn't as bad as we all think.

So what is the truth Mr. Obama?