Fred Barnes’ take
May 4, 2010 | federal legislation, industry | Comments (0)Veteran political commentator Fred Barnes has a piece in the Wall Street Journal that looks at the politics of financial reform from 30,000 feet. Here’s his take:
Washington has never been held in lower esteem by Americans than it is today. Yet those in control of Washington—President Obama and congressional Democrats—are bent on enacting a series of sweeping domestic policy changes this year that have one thing in common: They are unpopular, in whole or in part.
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Now they’re trying to win approval of Sen. Dodd’s financial-reform legislation with as little Republican help as possible, and thus as little compromising as they can get away with. Rather than encourage negotiations on a bipartisan bill, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is attempting to crack Republican unity. But three successful filibusters, supported by all Republican senators, prevented Democrats from moving forward, and now Sen. Dodd is negotiating with Republican Sen. Richard Shelby on changes to the bill. Republicans haven’t ruled out another filibuster if Sen. Dodd refuses to make significant concessions.
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