A data point in emerging Democratic response to bail-out

It's a treat to see the Democratic party move toward a point of consensus in crisis mode. This is the great old-school stuff where a concensus is needed in a hurry and everyone feels out where everyone else is at.

A crisis being addressed in the last phase of a campaign is unusual. Obama is right to hold back, but cannot hold back for too long. He and congressional dems will gravitate to a point of attraction, but nobody knows yet where that point is. It's too important an issue to do the Republican top-down fall in line thing. (And all of the House and 1/3 of the Senate have their own elections in 40+ days). But everyone knows they will be on the same page in a big hurry.

So every major Dem who comments; Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Bill Clinton, Dodd, Barney Frank, Hillary, etc., is nominating a stance as the party position in a very fast process. You run something up the flagpole and see who salutes.

September 19, 2008
Clinton's bailout statement

When the American people, facing a foreclosure crisis and struggling economy, turned to this administration for help, the answer was no. Now, the administration is turning to the American people for help, to rescue the credit markets and take on hundreds of billions in debt and financial obligations as a consequence of that same foreclosure crisis. The truth is, Main Street came to Washington and got little. Now Washington is coming to Main Street and asking for a lot. The American people deserve to know that this isn't a blank check. While the need to address the current crisis is clear, I will only support steps that will prevent a widening crisis, tackle the worst kinds of abuse tolerated for too long by the Bush administration, and address the root problems at work.

The proposed intervention outlined today by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson would be a watershed moment for our economy. I believe that such an intervention demands that we fundamentally alter the priorities and policies of our nation under the Bush administration that allowed this crisis to take place and escalate. Corporations that will benefit must be held accountable not only to large shareholders but also to the American people. And American taxpayers deserve to know that their money will not allow for a continuation of the status quo: short-term profit at the expense of long-term viability; obscene bonuses and golden parachutes regardless of performance; reckless risk taking that have placed the markets in so much jeopardy; rewards for those who foreclose on middle-class families and sell mortgages designed to fail to turn a profit; and outsourcing of good jobs to serve short-term stock prices instead of America's long-term economic health. The prevailing dynamic of corporate America, where the sole priority was the dividend, the inflated bonus and the quarterly earnings report, must give way to a new respect for the long-term prosperity of the American worker and the well-being of the middle class.

After eight years of failed policies — and two years of an absentee administration — our only option left may be an unprecedented government intervention into the private markets. The markets must be stabilized to stave off wider turmoil. Nevertheless, the urgency of this crisis does not mean that we should offer a blank check to financial institutions or the privileged few. Nor can we simply allow the administration to use the taxpayers like a "reset button." We cannot allow Wall Street to act without oversight by a vigilant SEC and administration — and without regard for the American people, who will now have paid twice: in falling prey to a widening credit crisis, and in paying the bill to hopefully bring it to an end.

I will be examining the administration's proposal very closely to ensure that we do not approve a policy that may stabilize the markets in the short term without addressing the root problems facing middle-class families or the kinds of reckless gambling that was permitted for far too long by the administration. The Bush administration may have changed its tune once the crisis facing Main Street hit Wall Street. But we need to be sure that the American taxpayers — asked to shoulder yet more risk and responsibility — have a voice.

I hope so.

The revival of the New Deal. Or more.

The pugs can't very well say new dealish responses aren't appropriate after the Bush administration told them the world was ending in 48 hours.

(Which I believe it was. When banks refuse to lend to each other it's a matter of days to cascading failures.)