US papers dismiss Bush speech

President George W. Bush's speech on corporate ethics has failed to impress American editorial writers.

The biggest disappointment was Mr Bush's failure to insist on a forceful reform of the accounting industry

Major liberal-leaning newspapers, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, consider the presidential recommendations as too little, too late.

The business-friendly Wall Street Journal dismisses the address as political grandstanding.

And the West Coast press - while covering the speech in their news pages - have not thought it worthy of an editorial.

The New York Times says Mr Bush's speech was "disappointingly devoid of tough proposals to remedy underlying problems" in accounting and corporate governance.

"The biggest disappointment was Mr. Bush's failure to insist on a forceful reform of the accounting industry," according to the paper.

It urges Mr Bush to "transcend partisanship" and urge Republican party leaders in the House of Representatives to adopt the tough bill on accounting reform being discussed in the Senate.