Senate Fails to Advance Financial Reform Bill

Bravo for Feingold and Cantwell, and even for McCain, for their apparently gutsy stand to restore the "firewall" between investment and commercial banking and for hanging tough on derivatives regulation. This is the right thing to do, instead of knuckling into the lobbyists and fearing the threats of lost campaign contributions. One can only hope they don't cut deals for their home states and cave on their gutsy stand. Without these much-needed rules, the behemoth banks will just continue their transformation of the markets into an enormous global casino, with innocent millions paying for their bad bets with life savings. After the Democrats finally pass these much-needed reforms, and when the midterm election campaigns begin in earnest, President Obama and the Democrats ought to spend a lot of time talking about how the Republicans sided with the big banks and against these common-sense protections for small savers, investors and Middle Class Americans, and that it was their disastrously failed president, George Bush, who bailed out the bankers in the first place. The Dems need to get this first draft of history right out in front of the Tea Party crowd, so they can rethink their right-wing radicalism and make intelligent choices at the polls, instead of trying to elect a bunch of Republican wackos. If restoring Glass Steagall's protections is the "long arm of government intruding in our lives," they I say bring it on.

We still don't even have a bill.