When Aren’t They Playing Politics?

Posted by LM Stansbury on Wednesday, October 01, 2008 12:00:00 AM

Momentum is increasing for the bailout bill, which we are now conspicuously referring to as the “Rescue Bill.” If you are a small business, you are likely facing a credit squeeze but hints developed over night, which suggest that money might be in the early stages of freeing up. In an additional effort to ward off a run on the banks, the insurance level is expected to be raised to $250,000 in order to ensure that small businesses are able to keep all of their money at a single bank. In essence, changes are taking place and a bailout of one variety or another is expected to manifest within days. It will not be long before legislation is on its way to the White House.

The series of events which have developed over the past several days on Wall Street have shed light on a staggering and steady series of Congressional failures over the past decade. Unfortunately but not surprisingly, it appears as though those of us on the right are the only constituents who have made any effort to recount the various Democrats who once scoffed at warnings of the dangerous games Fannie and Freddie were playing. They chose to play politics when they should have been responding to an obvious threat. Ironically, it will be a member of this very same party who will come out the victor in this crisis simply by virtue of the fact that he is a member of the opposite party to the sitting president and separate of anything he has accomplished personally. In an interview with Chris Cuomo on Thursday, Bill Clinton stated that Democrats had, for years “…been resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was President to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.” Of course we can expect an uphill battle if we ever hope to see former President Clinton’s statement’s reach a broad audience.

With regard to Obama, it appears he will have to do relatively little other than show up in Washington for a final vote.