Obama's brilliant speech on the economy today.

[Hamlette]

It's long, but you gotta listen. If you don't have time, here's some of the best of it:

If you want to understand the difference between how Senator McCain and I would govern as President, you can start by taking a look at how we’ve responded to this crisis. Because Senator McCain’s approach was the same as the Bush Administration’s: support ideological policies that made the crisis more likely; do nothing as the crisis hits; and then scramble as the whole thing collapses. My approach has been to try to prevent this turmoil.


In February of 2006, I introduced legislation to stop mortgage transactions that promoted fraud, risk or abuse. A year later, before the crisis hit, I warned Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke about the risks of mounting foreclosures and urged them to bring together all the stakeholders to find solutions to the subprime mortgage meltdown. Senator McCain did nothing.

Last September, I stood up at NASDAQ and said it’s time to realize that we are in this together – that there is no dividing line between Wall Street and Main Street – and warned of a growing loss of trust in our capital markets. Months later, Senator McCain told a newspaper that he’d love to give them a solution to the mortgage crisis, “but” – he said – “I don’t know one.”

In January, I outlined a plan to help revive our faltering economy, which formed the basis for a bipartisan stimulus package that passed the Congress. Senator McCain used the crisis as an excuse to push a so-called stimulus plan that offered another huge and permanent corporate tax cut, including $4 billion for the big oil companies, but no immediate help for workers.

This March, in the wake of the Bear Stearns bailout, I called for a new, 21st century regulatory framework to restore accountability, transparency, and trust in our financial markets. Just a few weeks earlier, Senator McCain made it clear where he stands: “I’m always for less regulation,” he said, and referred to himself as “fundamentally a deregulator.”

This is what happens when you confuse the free market with a free license to let special interests take whatever they can get, however they can get it. This is what happens when you see seven years of incomes falling for the average worker while Wall Street is booming, and declare – as Senator McCain did earlier this year – that we’ve made great progress economically under George Bush. That is how you can reach the conclusion – as late as yesterday – that the fundamentals of the economy are strong.

snip

His (McCain's) outrage with Wall Street would be more believable if he wasn't proposing giving them more tax cuts.

(ed: THIS IS SO GOOD.....PLEASE LISTEN. It is what we need, it is what we've been waiting for. He talks about this is what happens when you put people who are hostile to regulation in charge of regulation. What we need is leadership to get us out of this mess. I"ll provide it, McCain won't (after talking about McCain's commission).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HlZt5iN96iM&eurl=http://www.balloon-juice.com/

[tblue]

1. I heard most of it on XM. It was OUTSTANDING!

[backscatter712]

2. I saw it in person in Golden today. IT KICKED ASS!!!

B-)

[Diamonique]

3. I watching watching it on his website. Outstanding! n/t

[Hugin]

4. Brilliant!

:kick:

[liberalmuse]

5. Thank you!

And kick! I've been touting this speech all day. It was amazing! Yet it seems the MSM and all the blogs are focused on the blackberry thing.

[Hamlette]

6. hit McCain on his seven houses and the bankruptcy law

if you own one house, the bankruptcy court can't help you write down the debt on your house to keep a roof over your head.

If you have 7 houses, the bankruptch court CAN help you write down the debt on your 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th house so you can keep them. That might be some comfort to McCain but it is the kind of loophole that is destroying us.