Sorry Paul, It Doesn't Wash

One of the positive opportunities that has arisen from this week's Wall St. troubles is that voters have the chance to get a clear view of how these types of events may be handled in the future by our respective presidential candidates.

The widespread consensus among the media was that Barack Obama flew out of the gate in order to capitalize on an issue that is thought to be a strength among his "base" in the media.

Obama HAS experienced a slight uptick in the polls, but the internals of the serious polls (those not done by the N.Y. Times and the Media) that have been released this week show that the impact of this economic news may be negligible at best.

Contrary to the portrayal of a candidate that has now found his issue, we actually saw a candidate that was desperate to get ahead of, and control the narrative of this issue.

Obama is hip-deep in this mess, and his handlers know that if they do not get out front and immunize him it has the possibility of sinking him instead.

On the list of the top ten Senators who have taken money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac between 1989 and 2008, Barack Obama is number 2.

Yes, that is correct. In the 3 or so years that he has been a Senator he has been able to surpass almost all others in the amount of money he has taken from this now corrupted entity, approximately 120,000 dollars.

In addition, Obama has on his staff one of the two men that were largely responsible for driving Fannie Mae onto the iceberg, and has taken advice on housing issues from another.

Further, it is estimated that Barack Obama has taken about 400,000 dollars from the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers, the entity that started Monday's fall.

There are numerous articles regarding Barack Obama's connection to this collapse everywhere. I have included just one of these breakdowns here.

Regardless, the most important aspect of Obama's reaction are his ideas. It is now five days since this whole mess finally came to light, and Obama's plan has been two-fold:

1. Blame McCain

2. Blame George Bush

As of this morning Obama has changed tactics:

He is choosing to say nothing for now. Voting PRESENT, if you will.

That is one dazzling plan of action isn't it?


John McCain on the other hand, outlined a very specific and extensive plan this morning in Green Bay,WI.

You can view the details of that plan here.

McCain is also on record from 3 years ago warning of this crisis. In 2005 he said the following:

Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae’s regulator reported that the company’s quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were “illusions deliberately and systematically created” by the company’s senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’s report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives.

In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae’s former chief executive officer, OFHEO’s report shows that over half of Mr. Raines’ compensation for the 6 years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.

The OFHEO report also states that Fannie Mae used its political power to lobby Congress in an effort to interfere with the regulator’s examination of the company’s accounting problems. This report comes some weeks after Freddie Mac paid a record $3.8 million fine in a settlement with the Federal Election Commission and restated lobbying disclosure reports from 2004 to 2005. These are entities that have demonstrated over and over again that they are deeply in need of reform.

For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs–and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO’s report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO’s report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.

I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.

I urge my colleagues to support swift action on this GSE reform legislation.

You can read more about this attempt at reform here.

You can see a smattering the overall tactic that Democrats plan to use on this issue the hit piece written by left-wing hatchet man Paul Soglin here.

Lost in the blizzard of propaganda that Soglin is pushing, is anything resembling actual fact.

Soglin's argument seems to come down to the following, and I am para-phrasing:

"Republicans did this, and Democrats voted with them because they were chicken."

No mention of Obama's ties to this mess.

No mention that Bill Clinton signed the bill, which was supported by Clinton advisers Robert Reisch, and Larry Summers.

No mention that Democrats Franklin Raines and Jim Johnson, who BOTH have CURRENT ties to the Obama campaign, were the ones who drove Fannie Mae into the ground, lining their pockets and the coffers of Democrat politicians in the process.

There is an old saying:

"If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullsh*t"

Waxing America?

Hmmmm.....

Somehow "wax" is not the first thing that comes to mind......