What's missing from the discussion of a $700 billion government bailout of financial markets can be summed up in three words: George W. Bush. Where is the presidential address that lays out the scope of the crisis and the reasons for urgent action? Where are the details of what we face? Where is the president's explanation that shows $700 billion isn't just a random expression of someone's fuzzy math? Tell us how the $700 billion figure was arrived at. Explain how many institutions are at risk. Tell us what information you have and what you don't know. Explain the timeline of the threat and what the consequences will look like and why. Come on, Mr. President! Others who occupied the Oval Office have always faced the microphones at times of national crisis. They didn't hide in undisclosed locations or nurse their lame-duck egos by sucking on butterscotches while the world burned. Sir, you need to speak to the nation before trying to rally us against the beast with fangs that flies from vault to vault. What's the problem, sir? Why will $700 billion fix it? And what happens then? Tell us. Right into the microphone, Mr. President. No sir, it's that tube-shaped thing on the podium.