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WASHINGTON – It used to be gospel in the nation's power center: Presidents didn't talk publicly about what the markets were doing. The notion was that anything a president said on this subject could be too easily misinterpreted, sending Wall Street into a dive.

Now, former President Clinton says he thinks President Barack Obama should talk more optimistically about the prospects that the nation will recover from its current deep economic woes.

Clinton said he wants Obama to assure the people that America will surmount this problem. But at the same time, the former president said in an interview broadcast Friday on ABC's "Good Morning America" that "I like the fact that he didn't come in and give us a bunch of happy talk."

He also said he believes "you will see some good economic news form the stimulus fairly soon."

For his part, Obama has said he thinks the country will get past the recession, but that it will be a long slog.

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The Dow fell 57.19, or 0.77 percent, to 7,408.76. On Thursday, the Dow fell to its lowest level since Oct. 9, 2002, the depths of the last bear market.