Re: The House Passed Financial Reform; Now What?

As Adam noted last night, despite House passage of Financial Regulatory reform, the bill still seems in peril in the Senate with five of the six holdouts still seemingly wavering. But, frankly, going into a recess why would you declare your vote? If you were, say Scott Brown, would you a) declare that you’re going to buck your party and hand Dems a big victory four months before the midterms and go home to a week-long recess of Tea Party protests in front of your offices, or b) say you’re undecided and let concerned constituents lobby you during the July 4th holiday? Here’s a shocker: most politicians will opt for b except, apparently, Susan Collins, but Maine’s always been a slightly odd state politically speaking. I doubt Barney Frank and Chris Dodd would’ve closed the conference if they weren’t sure they have the votes. And last I checked, Harry Reid’s staff didn’t seem too worried. On the other hand, if the past 18 months have taught us anything it’s that senators on whose votes the fate of a very large bill depends can be capricious characters and what senators hear from constituents at home can often powerfully sway their votes.

The Phony War: Obama and Romney Are Debating Character, Not Policy

More than five months from Election Day, the back-and-forth about Mitt Romney’s record at Bain already feels played out. Unfortunately, there’s good reason to expect the campaign continues in this vein indefinitely. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney are terribly interested in dwelling on policy platforms. Romney’s plan to slash spending and keep taxes low on the wealthy isn’t especially popular, at least not at any level of detail beyond a blithe promise to shrink the deficit. Meanwhile, Obama’s signature first-term achievements, like health care, the stimulus and Wall Street reform, are all unpopular or tricky to sell. (The Dodd-Frank bill is the most popular of these, but hyping it means offending wealthy donors.) So what we’re getting instead is a superficial duel about character–and, worse, one that’s based on the largely false premise that the better man can better “manage” the economy back to health.

nflfoghorn

Looks like governance by compromise will be the order of the day, supermajority or not.
nflfoghorn

Wow, my comment rates a zero.
http://www.twitter.com/jnsmall Jay Newton-Small

Don’t take it personally, nflfoghorn. My posts seem unpopular these days. I hoping it’s just that my subject matter this week, Kagan and finreg, isn’t exactly sexy stuff.
JNS
deconstructiva

Jay, I’ve appreciate your work + others on this issue (and have said so!). I always thought finance reform was important, but probably in the minority here. Also used to feeding crickets too w/ replies (not being in the inner circle has its drawbacks), but I guess it’s better if you’re getting little attention than to get one’s ass chewed out like Joe just went through, but I digress. As for Kagan, I’m amazed the “sex stuff” has NOT been drilled home by the R’s, as in orientation, but it’s good to them mostly behave for a change.
nflfoghorn

HA! The comment counter still read -0- when mine posted initially. As far as quality goes, long as it’s read I don’t really care what you rate it Thanks for caring and for your overall thoroughness!
Paul-no not that one

“My posts seem unpopular these days.”
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Don’t judge by # of comments.
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If that matrix were accurate than Joe K writing about Greenwald would be considered “popular”
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http://erieangel.wordpress.com erieangel

Jay, I read your posts every day but seldom post a comment because I’m usually reading at work. I love your stuff though, and usually keeps me thinking about things other than a bunch of 20 year old children all afternoon.