OBAMA AND THE BAILOUT

On Sunday, Sen. McCain attacked Sen. Obama for not having offered a plan to solve the latest financial crisis to hit Wall Street. He accused Sen. Obama of once again playing politician and not offering the leadership the country needed from a president. This would have a certain level of humor if the subject was not so serious. McCain is a man whose first reaction was to threaten to fire the head of the SEC. (Which is not something the President can do.) Even George Will called McCain's behavior "unpresidential" But in one respect Sen. McCain was correct, Sen. Obama did not offer presidential leadership! This may have had something to do with the fact that Sen. Obama is not currently the President of the United States and this is a crisis.

Sen. Obama's response was to stay calm and wait for the designated leader of the country to make the decisions that are his to make. Obama made frequent calls to many legislators on both sides of the aisle to discuss the problem. Then on Sunday after the President had offered his plan, Sen. Obama spoke on 7 principals that he felt the plan must meet to be approved by Congress. He did not say he would not support a bailout. He stressed the importance of this legislation passing Congress quickly, but he refused to write the President a blank check. He spoke as a Senator entrusted to be the legislative branch of the government. He also showed us what would be important to a President Obama if he were faced with a similar situation as President Bush is currently. (It should also be noted that several of these principals are things he has spoken on in the past on the campaign trail as early as last year. Unlike Sen. McCain, Sen. Obama seems to have seen some form of this problem coming.) So here are those principals taken directly from a transcript of Sunday's speech.

No blank check. If we grant the Treasury broad authority to address the immediate crisis, we must insist on independent accountability and oversight. Given the breach of trust we have seen and the magnitude of the taxpayer money involved, there can be no blank check.
Rescue requires mutual responsibility. As taxpayers are asked to take extraordinary steps to protect our financial system, it is only appropriate to expect those institutions that benefit to help protect American homeowners and the American economy. We cannot underwrite continued irresponsibility, where CEOs cash in and our regulators look the other way. We cannot abet and reward the unconscionable practices that triggered this crisis. We have to end them.
Taxpayers should be protected. This should not be a handout to Wall Street. It should be structured in a way that maximizes the ability of taxpayers to recoup their investment. Going forward, we need to make sure that the institutions that benefit from financial insurance also bear the cost of that insurance.
Help homeowners stay in their homes. This crisis started with homeowners and they bear the brunt of the nearly unprecedented collapse in housing prices. We cannot have a plan for Wall Street banks that does not help homeowners stay in their homes and help distressed communities.
A global response. As I said on Friday, this is a global financial crisis and it requires a global solution. The United States must lead, but we must also insist that other nations, who have a huge stake in the outcome, join us in helping to secure the financial markets.
Main Street, not just Wall Street. The American people need to know that we feel as great a sense of urgency about the emergency on Main Street as we do the emergency on Wall Street. That is why I call on Senator McCain, President Bush, Republicans and Democrats to join me in supporting an emergency economic plan for working families – a plan that would help folks cope with rising gas and food prices, save one million jobs through rebuilding our schools and roads, help states and cities avoid painful budget cuts and tax increases, help homeowners stay in their homes, and provide retooling assistance to help ensure that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built in America.
Build a regulatory structure for the 21st Century. While there is not time in a week to remake our regulatory structure to prevent abuses in the future, we should commit ourselves to the kind of reforms I have been advocating for several years. We need new rules of the road for the 21st Century economy, together with the means and willingness to enforce them.

As a Senator, these points clearly show a legislator who understands his role in the process. The executive branch has proposed a solution, the legislative branch discusses the idea focusing on how the plan solves the problem and makes recommendations and changes before making it a law for the executive branch to enforce. Sen. Obama played his part in the process during a crisis. Sen. McCain campaigned.