Grant Aldonas, a former senior trade official in the Bush administration now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the tenor of the speech suggests Bush “does not understand his moment.” He also said the administration has lost authority to argue against government intervention in the markets.

“The disabling of capitalism has already begun and he’s the one who started it,” Aldonas said. “It rings hollow for an awful lot of people, not only in the marketplace but for world leaders abroad. . . . They are the ones who are going to have the leverage at the table.”