Harry Reid Wants Democrats To Lose Congress AND The White House

It looks like the horrible economy has boosted Barack Obama's daily tracking numbers just a bit. Well, we can't have that, now, can we? Harry Reid to the rescue! He'll make sure that bounce goes away, further torpedo the chances of downticket Democrats, and reassure Americans that the Democrats ARE completely clueless:

ABC News' Z. Byron Wolf reports from Capitol Hill: Don't look for any legislation in the near future to address the financial crisis.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, asked today what new regulatory actions Congress can take, said, bluntly, "No one knows what to do. We are in new territory here. This is a different game. We're not here playing soccer, basketball or football, this is a new game and we're going to have to figure out how to do it."

Woo-hoo! When big financial problems arise, it's always good to admit you have no clue how to resolve them. That will build confidence in your party!

Now, the lede of the story is somewhat misleading, since there will be short-term legislation proposed to try to alleviate the damages caused by greed and deregulation. But apparently, any heavy lifting will be passed on to the next President and Congress. Now, THAT's leadership!

In the short run, Democrats are trying to push through a second stimulus package with funding for infrastructure improvements, renewable energy tax credits and other things. But all agree it will be up to the next President and Congress to do any re-regulation.

And its important to remember that there is no congressional oversight on the string of bailouts by the Federal Reserve of AIG, the nation's largest insurance company, or the lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Moments after the press conference, on the Senate floor, Reid said he will keep the Senate in pro forma session after the Sept. 30th departure date so that committees can meet and consider the problem.

I ask you, if the Congress will remain in session after September 30, and will be doing something to counteract the effects of these failures right away, then why didn't Senator Reid say that?

And why in the name of the Giant Green Lizard are we allowing the free-marketeers to get control of the framing of this issue? Why doesn't it SOUND like the Obamacrats are the Party of the Responsible Economy any more? Is it because they are stupid, or because they are bought and paid for by Corporate America? Or is it a combination of both?

Let's just pretend for a moment that Harry Reid were infused with the spirit of a real fighting Dem, such as, oh I dunno, FDR, Truman or Hillary Clinton. This is how I think his statement might have been different:

Well, we're preparing a large-scale stimulus package to provide immediate relief to the American people. If we can get some of our Republican colleagues to join us, and President Bush doesn't veto it out of sheer partisan spite, it may even pass the Senate in time to help people immediately.

What the American people need to know is that the impact of the failure of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae had nothing to do with whether or not the institutions were part of the government. Remember, other corporations, like Bear Stearns and AIG, were also bailed out by the Federal Reserve, yet they were private corporations that were deemed "too big to fail."

The problem is, when deregulation and corporate greed go hand in hand, the people always end up footing the bill with their hard-earned cash. The CEO's of these companies walk away with multi-million-dollar golden parachutes, while their employees walk away with nothing. This isn't the way it's supposed to be.

What led to this financial crisis was the deregulation of the mortgage industry and the deregulation of the lending industry. We need more oversight, not less. It's incredibly irresponsible of the free-market ideologues, like Jim DeMint, to try to claim more deregulation would have prevented this crisis. That's like claiming that giving a heroin addict more heroin will cure his addiction. It's madness.

We need to get back to diversity and real freedom in the market. We need to break up the big companies and give the small businessperson a fighting chance. We need to end the practice of no-bid multi-billion dollar contracts for the friends of the President and the Vice President. And we need to make sure that when the corporations make mistakes, they, and they alone, are responsible.

To this end, we are proposing the following legislation:

• A "Golden Parachute" law, to the effect that if a CEO drives a company into bankruptcy, he or she cannot profit from it;
• A reinstatement of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, which will be used to break up monopolies so that this sort of domino effect does not happen again;
• A new Truman Commission, which will be overseeing and correcting wasteful government spending and war profiteering; and
• A fully-funded, fully-staffed SEC, with the power and ability to enforce new and existing regulations.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to work.

Wouldn't that be something to hear? But the Obamacrats are too stupid, too paid off, or both, to say anything like that.

Pass the popcorn and watch McCain/Palin sail to victory in November. There's just no hope for Obama or Congresscritters like Hapless Harry. But if you have any spare change, please donate to your favorite Downticket Dem if you feel so inclined. We need a strong divided government in January.

Who knows, with two people in the Executive Branch who actually have a record of reaching across the aisle (UNLIKE George Bush, Dick Cheney or Barack Obama), maybe we will get SOMETHING good accomplished in the next four years.

Yes, I know. I'm just a cockeyed optimist.

Cross-posted at Oooh, nuance!