Barack Obama is talking about economic disaster but trying to strike an upbeat note on the campaign trail, writes the New York Times. Speaking to a rally of thousands in Indianapolis, the candidate “told thousands of people at a rally here that America was “at a moment of great uncertainty.”

“He used the words “significant drop,” “anxiety,” “crisis” and “worse” all in his second sentence. He explained why the credit markets were frozen, and in plainspoken language described how automobile plants were closing because people could not get car loans, how savings for college and retirement were “disappearing.”

“Then, suddenly, a cardinal rule of politics seemed to kick in: People vote for optimists, not pessimists, even if that means obscuring hard truths in the short term.

“And so Mr. Obama veered rather sharply into his version of Reaganesque confidence, taking a page from a leader who talked a great deal about sunny days but very little about the budget deficits and debt that flowed from his policies.”

Read the full story here.