Our guest blogger is John Halpin, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress Action Fund and co-author of “The Power of Progress: How Progressives Can (Once Again) Save Our Economy, Our Climate, and Our Country.”
Anyone who thinks that the Fed’s rescuing of AIG and Treasury Secretary Paulson’s unconditional, blank-check bailout plan somehow validate the beliefs of FDR needs a serious tutorial in the history of the Democratic Party.
Democrats, since the days of Thomas Jefferson, have always stood on principle against the predatory instincts of Wall Street, speculators, and bankers.
As political theorist Michael Sandel has noted, the fight between Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton over the First Bank of the United States (and Hamilton’s larger government-sponsored economic agenda) was a legendary battle about competing visions of the nation. Jefferson, seeking to uphold the civic republican tradition of the nation’s founding, argued that Hamilton’s national bank was unconstitutional and a “treasonous” tool of oppression supported by northern financial interests. Jefferson believed a central bank and national capitalism would undermine the economic independence and civic virtue of farmers and small producers. Hamilton, in turn, thought Jefferson’s economic vision for the country was quaint and would inhibit the nation from becoming a world leader in manufacturing and finance. He viewed the national bank as an essential engine of the American economy.
Hamilton won that debate but the Jeffersonian skepticism of a national bank and government-sponsored capitalism lived on. Sounding similar themes, President Andrew Jackson accused the Second Bank of the United States of supporting an economic elite that controlled Congress and was neglectful of southern and western agrarian interests. Three-time Democratic presidential candidate, William Jennings Bryan, picked up this strand of thought in his attacks on the early plans for the Federal Reserve system put forth by Republican Senator Nelson Aldrich, the Hamiltonian-inspired nemesis of progressives at the turn of the twentieth century. Aldrich, a close associate of J.P. Morgan, devised a plan to create a system of regional reserve banks with a central authority run by private bankers. The thought of turning the nation’s finances over to the “money trust” set the hair on fire of progressives like Bryan and Republican Senator Robert La Follette of Wisconsin who wanted full public control of the nation’s money supply and credit. After fierce congressional wrangling, President Wilson heeded Bryan’s warnings and eventually negotiated the hybrid Federal Reserve system we have today that preserves privately owned banks with a publicly controlled central board.
CNN Calls Out McCain Lie: Obama Does Have A Plan For Financial Crisis John McCain keeps on outdoing himself with his lies. Now he's trying to make the totally false case that Barack Obama doesn't have a plan for the economic crisis. "Senator Obama," he says, "has still not offered any plan of any kind."
As CNN's Tom Foreman reports:
No plan from Obama? No way. To the contrary, Senator Obama has talked at length about reforming Wall Street, getting CEO pay packages under control, instituting new regulations to protect homeowners. In short, what everybody wants: stabilizing the economy.
Foreman also added that McCain has "been notably short on details on how he would handle this crisis."
Chris Rock Disses Bill Clinton For Tepid Obama Support If you happened to catch The View this afternoon, you likely marveled at Bill Clinton's ability to call the 2008 election for Barack Obama without actually suggesting that Obama, as a candidate, had any particular quality that would enable the win, which would instead come about through a confluence of happy electoral accidents. The former president, let us say, is nothing if not consistent in his sense of party loyalty, where party=the party in his pants.
Apparently, Bill Clinton managed to be even more of an undermining douche coy about his support for the Democratic nominee on tonight's iteration of The Late Show With David Letterman, because something inspired his fellow guest, comedian Chris Rock, to remark, "Boy, is it me or he didn't want to say the name Barack Obama?" From there, Rock went into a lengthy harangue about Hillary Clinton ("I love Hillary, but she lost...The Patriots got a lot of points, too, but they lost"), before finally referring to Sarah Palin's Alaska as "Road Warrior with snow."
Looks like someone's not going to be playing any Clinton Global Initiative benefits anytime soon!
John McCain: The Fundamental Deregulator (VIDEO) Over the last few days, John McCain has talked a decent game when it comes to enacting new regulations to protect American families from another financial crisis. But as this new video demonstrates, McCain's talk is just hot air -- he's got no record to back it up.
Last March, he famously <A HREF="http://www.americablog.com/2008/09/mccain-has-zero-history-to-suggest-he.html";>said that he was "fundamentally a deregulator." In July, he said that his "fundamental difference" with Barack Obama was that Obama favored "more regulation" while he favored less. And earlier this month, McCain's strong support for deregulation was on display in speech after speech at the GOP convention.
Now, John McCain is scrambling to follow Barack Obama's lead as a reform-minded proponent of regulation. But that can't change the fact that when it comes to his record, all the way up until Thursday of last week, John McCain is "The Fundamental Deregulator" -- and YouTube is here to prove it:
Video edited by Jed Lewison for The Huffington Post.
McCain Ad: Obama Has Been MIA On The Economy Repeating a line of attack developed over the weekend, the McCain campaign released an ad Tuesday morning accusing Barack Obama of being missing in action on the current economic crisis.
Titled "Mum," the spot is an inherent recognition that economic debates will continue to trump presidential politics going forward. Yesterday, remember, the McCain campaign's daily ad focused on Bill Ayers.
"In crisis, experience matters," reads the narrator. "McCain and his Congressional allies led. Tough rules on Wall Street. Stop CEO rip-offs. Protect your savings and pensions. Obama and his liberal allies? Mum on the market crisis. Because no one knows what to do. More taxes. No leadership. A risk your family can't afford."
In the current spot, McCain turns back the "experience" meme, an attempt to dispel the image that he's the candidate who stumbled in addressing the nation's financial and housing market problems. The ad is released the same morning that <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/AR2008092202583_pf.html";>George Will unloaded on McCain's "unpresidential" behavior in his Washington Post column. And while Obama has preached prudence in addressing the current crisis, McCain's approach has hardly been comprehensive. Both, indeed, had discussed the principles they hope to see in the proposed bailout without delving too much into the weeds.
UPDATE: The Obama camp responds...
"This ad is laughable. If you believe John McCain, George Bush and the Republicans in Washington have led on reforming Wall Street and restraining CEO pay, I've got a bridge in Alaska to sell you," said Obama-Biden spokesman Bill Burton.
Dodd On Paulson Plan: "Not Just Our Economy At Risk...Our Constitution As Well" Senator Christopher Dodd opened today's Senate Banking Committee hearing by offering deep concern over the bailout package proposal that's been put forth by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. During his opening remarks, Dodd criticized the underlying thinking behind the proposal, pointing out its lack of attention to taxpayers, its allowance of "golden parachutes" for CEOs, and its dearth of detail. Most importantly, however, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/22/dirty-secret-of-the-bailo_n_128294.html";>Dodd squarely aimed a shot at Section 8 of the proposal, which stipulates that, under the plan, the Secretary's actions would be "non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."
"After reading this proposal," said Dodd, "I can only conclude it is not just our economy that is at risk but our Constitution as well."
[WATCH.]
DODD: Barely 72 hours ago, Secretary Paulson presented a proposal that he believes, and others do as well, is urgently needed to protect our economy. This proposal is stunning and unprecedented in scope and lack of detail, I might add. It would allow the Secretary of the Treasury to intervene in our economy by purchasing at least $700 billion of toxic assets. It would allow the Secretary to hold on to those assets for years and to pay millions of dollars to hand-pick firms to manage those assets. It would do nothing in my view, to help a single family save a home, at least not upfront. It would do nothing to stop even a single CEO from dumping billions of dollars of toxic assets on the backs of American taxpayers. While at the same time do nothing to stop the very authors of this calamity to walk away with bonuses and golden parachutes worth millions of dollars. And it would allow the Secretary and his successors to act with absolute impunity without review of any agency or court of law. After reading this proposal, I can only conclude it is not just our economy that is at risk but our Constitution as well.
Nevertheless, in our efforts to restore financial security to American families and stability to our markets this banking committee has a responsibility to examine this proposal carefully and in a timely manner. In my view, any plan to address this crisis must embody three principles. First, American taxpayers must have some assurance that their hard-earned money is being used correctly and responsibly. Second, we must put in place proper oversight so the executors of this plan are accountable and their actions are transparent. Finally, we must address the root cause of this crisis by putting an end to the rising number of foreclosures sweeping our nation. Longer term, it is clear our current economic circumstances demand we rethink, reform, and modernize supervision of the financial services industry. Certain basic principles should form the foundation for reform. We need a leader in the White House that will ensure regulators are strong cops on the beat and do not turn a blind eye to reckless lending practices. We need to remove incentives for regulators to compete against each other for bank and thrift clients by weakening regulation. We need to ensure all institutions that pose a risk to our financial system and taxpayers are carefully and sensibly supervised. We need to accept the premise that consumer protection and economic growth are not in conflict with one another but inextricably linked. If we learn nothing else from this crisis, it is that the failure to protect consumers can cause the collapse of our largest financial institutions, loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, and the draining of hundreds of billions of dollars of wealth from hard-working Americans.
Press Frustration With McCain Bubbles Over: Is This The 'No Talk Express'? Relations between John McCain and the press corps that was once described as his "base" have fully deteriorated. After an appearance in Strongsville, Ohio, on Tuesday, the Senator blissfully ignored questions about the bailout plan from nearby reporters, prompting one journalist to scream out: "Has your bus become the No Talk Express?"
McCain offered a smirk at the line but kept on walking. "Ok, pool, back to the vans!" said an aide. "That was fun."
The outburst came as the press pool accompanying vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin nearly revolted on Tuesday, after the campaign <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/23/networks-revolt-against-r_n_128608.html";>banned reporters from covering her first meetings with world leaders, in favor of photographers and a singular television news crew.
Reporters have also sharply criticized the GOP ticket for avoiding questions from the Fourth Estate. It's been 40 days since the Senator has taken a question from a national reporter, though <a href="http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2008/09/breaking_the_si.html ">word leaked out today that McCain is planning his first press conference since August 13. Gov. Sarah Palin, meanwhile, has yet to host a press availability.
"The woman seeking to be to a heartbeat away from the presidency without ever holding a press conference remains on the same relatively unaccountable path," ABC's Jake Tapper <a href="http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/palin-finally-w.html";>wrote on his blog. "McCain-Palin campaign officials apparently feel the American people should trust her with the button and the world's financial markets without ever taking questions from reporters."
The McCain campaign has also complained bitterly about a purported double standard in the coverage of Obama. On Monday, campaign strategist Steve Schmidt <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/22/mccain-camp-goes-to-war-w_n_128297.html ">chastised the New York Times as a non-journalistic institution for writing on the lobbying work campaign manager Rick Davis did on behalf of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Later that day, spokesman Brian Rogers accused Politico reporter Ben Smith of being "<a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13747.html ">in the tank" for Obama, simply because Smith asked the campaign to verify claims it was making about the Illinois Democrat's character and biography.
FOX News Producer Shushannah Walshe just lashed out at the McCain campaign for denying access to reporters who wanted to witness Sarah Palin's U.N. photo ops earlier today. Walshe said the McCain campaign's restrictions on press coverage were "just unprecedented."
"There's not once chance that Governor Palin would have to answer a question. ... They're eliminating even the chance of any kind of interaction with the candidate -- it's just unprecedented."
Walshe noted that the McCain campaign eventually did relent and allow a reporter in the same room as Palin -- but only for just 29 seconds.
I’m not sure of this, but I think—I suspect and feel—that the Great War, the war of 1914-1918, is beginning to dominate our lives even more than the terrible and infinitely more costly conflict of 1939-1945. The Second World War may haunt our lives. The First World War, it seems to me, imprisons us all.
Barack Obama is depending more and more on a Rocky Mountain victory and, according to a new poll, Sarah Palin may have just given him a boost there. It seems the Alaska governor’s growing unpopularity among independent voters has helped Obama to a seven-point lead in the Centennial State.
A separate Quinnipiac poll, also released Tuesday, shows Obama with a four-point lead in Colorado.
A precipitous drop in Sarah Palin[base ']Äôs approval may be helping to fuel Obama[base ']Äôs gains. Immediately after the convention 41% of Colorado voters said that her selection made them more likely to vote for John McCain, compared to 38% who said it made them less likely to do so. Since then there[base ']Äôs been a 12 point drop in her net favorability. Now just 38% say that she makes them more likely to vote for the Republican, with 47% saying they[base ']Äôre less likely to do so.
[base ']ÄúBarack Obama has greatly increased his lead with independents since we last polled Colorado,[base ']Äù said Dean Debnam, President of Public Policy Polling. [base ']ÄúIt seems like the more voters have learned about Sarah Palin the less they[base ']Äôve liked her, and that[base ']Äôs allowed Obama to open up the largest lead he[base ']Äôs shown in a PPP poll of Colorado.[base ']Äù
By 19 - 24 point margins, voters in Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin say Democrat Barack Obama, not Republican John McCain, is the candidate of change, helping lift Sen. Obama into the lead in these battleground states, according to four simultaneous Quinnipiac University polls of likely voters in these battleground states, conducted in partnership with The Wall Street Journal and washingtonpost.com and released today.
More voters in each state also would rather see Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joseph Biden become President, even though voters in each state say Sen. McCain’s selection of Gov. Sarah Palin as running mate is a good choice. Sen. Obama has double-digit leads among women in every state except Minnesota, where his six-point lead leaves him with only a two-point edge among all voters.
Anyone 
