Who is running the country? Ed Lasky When it comes to "getting tough" on the big banks on Wall Street, the administration is about to turn its populist, class warfare rhetoric into actual policy proposals to "rein in" the risk taking potential of the largest firms.
Who is it that is pushing Obama on this issue:
Jonathan Weisman of the Wall Street Journal:
The White House's relationship with Wall Street is close to its breaking point. Democratic lawmakers and the administration have made banking policy a central part of their 2010 campaign playbook. Now, America's big banks are facing a double threat: an increasingly tough policy response to the financial crisis that is getting a goose from the White House's increasingly heated political rhetoric. According to Senate officials, the president had an ally beyond Mr. Volcker. One of Mr. Obama's top political advisers, David Axelrod, was also pressing to get tougher on the big banks. In addition, Vice President Joe Biden emerged as a key Volcker ally.
"Biden and Volcker are old friends," said Austan Goolsbee, a member of the White House's Council of Economic Advisers. The vice president "became a leading advocate."
On Thursday, Mr. Obama proposed a plan that would prevent banks that receive a federal backstop from investing their own money in financial markets-what is known as proprietary trading. He also pushed for new limits on the size and concentration of financial institutions. Both moves echo the Glass-Steagall Act, the Depression-era banking curbs that was repealed in 1999.
Is it Axelrod? Gee..he is well-versed in economics, finance, public affairs, domestic policy - not.
What about all the abuse directed towards Karl Rove - "Bush's Brain"? At least, Rove moved into the White House only in the second term. Axelrod has the office nearest to Obama, attends important meetings, and was there as his domestic policy senior adviser from Day One. He is far more important than Joe Biden.
Did we elect David Axelrod?
In a Chicago magazine profile of him from the late 1980s (Hatchet Man: the Rise of David Axelrod) he described his dream of being an "eminence grise" - the power behind the throne . His dream has come true and it is our nightmare. A left-wing ideologue who engages in dirty tricks and who has absolutely no experience in government, the economy, world affairs, and the myriad skills needed to run the nation is helping to drive this country...off the cliff.
And we did not even get to vote for him.
