My friend Gary Tigerman put it all very succinctly this morning , and I thought I’d share his quick, concise run-down of Obama’s efforts to deal with this crisis proactively:
- 2006. Obama saw widespread reports of irresponsible mortgage lending and introduced the Stop Fraud Act in Congress to halt the bad loan practices immediately. Obama sought bi-partisan support. McCain showed little interest. The bill died.
- 2007. Obama wrote letters to Treasury Secretary Paulson and current Fed Chair Bernanke challenging them call an immediate Home Ownership Summit meeting to help prevent millions of us from losing our homes. McCain ignored the idea. The Bush Administration declined.
- 2008. In March, 8 months ago, Obama went to Wall Street and warned of the looming crisis of confidence in the capital markets and proposed urgent, pro-active solutions including more aggressive oversight. Paul Volker, former Fed Chairman, championed his plan. McCain dismissed their concerns and called for even less regulation.
- Obama’s foresight and aggressive, preventative policies would have put the brakes on the worst financial meltdown since 1929. Bush-McCain’s hands-off policy allowed an economic crisis to explode into a world-wide catastrophe.
- McCain policy: do nothing until Great Depression II is at hand, then look for people to fire.
- Obama policy: recognize and address urgent problems before they become disasters.
Who ya gonna trust? The young kettle who’s tried to deal with the problem? Or the old white-haired pot who keeps pointing at everyone but himself?
andylloyd
Eric Harrington
Jolene Rae Harrington
ravingliberal
Where Conspiracy and Reality Collide 