“Speaking of stinking fish….”

Hold on! Wait just a minute... Before Democrats get too wound up talking about mean, greedy Republicans ... and commence, yet again, their quadrennial ritual to disinter Herbert Hoover and resurrect the Great Depression ... perhaps there is time first to recall that President Bush sought reformed oversight for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae fully five years ago. [1- NYT article below]. Furthermore, Fox News' John Gibson also reminded us yesterday of the powerful connections between Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Democrats ... including guess who? ... Mr. Obama. [2- Fox News article below]

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Mr. Obama may not want to open this can of worms pretending to be a reformer. Let the reader examine the articles referenced below and decide.   Some quotes from the NYT article about these two agencies are notable:

''The regulator has not only been outmanned, it has been outlobbied,'' said Representative Richard H. Baker, the Louisiana Republican who has proposed legislation similar to the administration proposal and who leads a subcommittee that oversees the companies. ''Being underfunded does not explain how a glowing report of Freddie's operations was released only hours before the managerial upheaval that followed. This is not world-class regulatory work.'' ''There is a general recognition that the supervisory system for housing-related government-sponsored enterprises neither has the tools, nor the stature, to deal effectively with the current size, complexity and importance of these enterprises,'' Treasury Secretary John W. Snow told the House Financial Services Committee in an appearance with Housing Secretary Mel Martinez, who also backed the plan.

Interestingly, it was the Democrat Party who balked at reform, even as they were excoriating Mr. Bush about ENRON and corporate greed, etc. Note this fully self-damning remark by Barney Frank, D-MA, at the end of this 2003 article,"These two entities ... are not facing any kind of financial crisis. The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we'll see in terms of affordable housing." Rep Melvin Watt, D-NC, agreed, ''I don't see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing.''   Put this into further perspective: We now hear that there were, reportedly, very large campaign contributions to Obama, as reported by John Gibson on Fox News, 16 September 2008  to members of Congress including Barney Frank, D-MA. [3-Fox News on YouTube below]   I think we ought to make this play out. As Mr. Obama has recently reminded us, "You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called 'change, it's still gonna stink after eight years." In this case, it has taken a scant five years, and it smells like they were very profitable years for Mr. Obama and others indeed. On the campaign trail in Vienna, Ohio: "McCain pointed to his expressions of concern two years ago over proper oversight of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-backed private lending giants that federal officials took over last week to prevent their collapse. '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,' he said in May 2006. "McCain has acknowledged that the economy is not his strong suit, but he argued yesterday that his past chairmanship of the Senate Commerce Committee gave him more economic experience than Obama. " 'He talks a tough game on the financial crisis, but the facts tell a different story,' McCain said at a rally in Vienna, Ohio. 'Senator Obama took more money from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than anyone but the chairman of the committee they answer to. And he put Fannie Mae's CEO, who helped create this problem, in charge of finding his vice president. That's not change, that's what's broken in Washington.' " [4-Boston Globe article below] Sounds like an investigation waiting to happen, doesn't it? Let us have the Justice Department investigate these Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac political connections ... follow the money, as they say. As an aside, such an investigation would be arguably more legitimate than Obama's political distraction, requesting that the Justice Department investigate [and prosecute?] the "American Issues Project" for running ads about Obama's connection with Leftist bomb-chucker Bill Ayers; or, Obama operatives menacing Chicago Radio Station, WGN, for  interviewing author Stanley Kurtz's allegations regarding the Ayers-Obama connection. Apparently, free speech is only free speech as long as it does not scrutinize Obama and expect answers to open and tough questions. [5-WSJ article below]   And so here is also the double standard. Powerful Democrats clearly have had their hands out at this money trough, but claim that Republicans created the mess. John McCain has received paltry contributions from people in these agencies over his 20 plus years in the Senate. Compare this to what  "The One," Barack Obama, has raked in in just three short years!    So, as "Charlie the Tuna" used to say, "Do you want tuna with good taste, or tuna that tastes good."

Piggies at the trough

  References: 1. New York Times 2. Foxnews  3. Youtube video 4. Boston Globe 5. Wall Street Journal