Opinion: How Will The Bailout Mess Impact The November Elections?

Buy an ad on DigitalJournal.com

I recently posted a DJ article on the heated Bill O'Reilly/Barney Frank contretemps on FOX.

It got me to thinking. Who will the American people blame for this mess, and which party will pay the greater price? Could they all, if the voting public adopts a "throw the bums out" mentality?

One has to take into consideration this Congress' pathetic poll numbers, which have been the lowest since polling on Congress began.

Though many blame Bush and even John McCain for this fully preventable financial disaster, at this point it has to be advantage, Republicans.

Let's face it, when Bill Clinton lays the blame for the crisis squarely on Democratic shoulders, you are in big political trouble.

Say what you will about Bush, but five years ago the New York Times reported on the Bush Administration's attempts in 2003 to rein in both agencies under strict Treasury supervision. That effort was blocked by Democrats.

Among the groups denouncing the proposal today were the National Association of Home Builders and Congressional Democrats who fear that tighter regulation of the companies could sharply reduce their commitment to financing low-income and affordable housing.

”These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. ”The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”

Representative Melvin L. Watt, Democrat of North Carolina, agreed.

”I don’t see much other than a shell game going on here, moving something from one agency to another and in the process weakening the bargaining power of poorer families and their ability to get affordable housing,” Mr. Watt said.

Though McCain has been tagged by the Obama campaign and others as a Christmas tree of lobbyists, some of whom allegedly profited from the financial turmoil at FMFM, Barack Obama himself does not have clean hands on the matter.

Besides having former Fannie Mae chief Jimmy Johnson as a senior campaign staffer vetting VP candidates (Johnson has since been thrown under the bus by Obama), and Johnson's successor, Franklin Raines, as a housing and mortgage advisor for the Obama campaign of all things, Barack Obama has profited from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac more than any other member of Congress since 2005 except Rep. Chris Dodd, to the tune of $126,349, despite his short tenure in the Senate.

By contrast, John McCain has received $16,400.00 by FMFM employees in the same time frame.

Democratic Rep. Chris Dodd (D-CT), who tops Obama on the FMFM Christmas List at $165,400.00, may not be able to wash the Countrywide dirt from his hands in time for Election Day. While it is true that Rep. Dodd is a senior ranking member of Congress, much depends on how his constituents perceive his depth of involvement in the scandal.

Rep. Barney Frank is also taking heat in his own district for his own considerable involvement in the scandal.

Here is a list of the top 354 campaign donation recipients from FMFM PACs and individuals to Congressional reps and senators.

Plenty of Ds and Rs, which pretty much tells you they all did it. Greed is a most bipartisan quantity.

Also, keep in mind that the FMFM matter is being investigated by the FBI, and that shocking developments are possible well before Election Day.

How ironic that President Bush and John McCain are the only shining knights in this whole mess. They at least tried to stop it from happening.

So how will it affect voters' perceptions of who is to blame? Of who should stay and who should go? For confirmed Democrats and Republicans, they will most likely stand by their men. But they alone do not decide elections, as neither group constitutes voting majorities. It is undecided Independents and moderates that swing elections, and how they perceive who is to blame for the crisis and bailout will decide who stays and who goes.

Or if they all have to go.

You know. When in the course of human events...

As an American in the Revolutionary spirit, I would have no problem with entrenched members of both parties being thrown out en masse onto the cold streets of Washington.

Let not their gerrymandering save them.The bigger they are, the harder they fall. It would shake things up greatly (as perhaps our Founding Fathers intended to happen on occasion), inject new blood into the political process, and serve as a cautionary tale for new members who might consider making a buck more important than the interests of taxpaying constituents, who have now been slapped with a $700B bill for a crisis that could have been averted years ago.

Can't wait to see how this all plays out next month!

What a time to be a DJ ;-)