Obama running out of people to blame

I like this Letter to the Editor originally published in The Pottstown Mercury from a Chester County resident who says he's tired of Barack Obama blaming everyone else for his failed presidency.

Obama continues to blame everyone else for his failed policies

Exactly what did Barack Obama "inherit?"

Our president is fond of laying blame at the feet of his predecessor. Do the facts, however, support the rhetoric? They might but for the inconvenient truth that his party has enjoyed majorities in both chambers of Congress since the 2006 elections. Can any individual or party feign "inheritance" when they have controlled the legislative agenda for over two years? I think not.

While much has rightly been made of the contributions to the current recession from "The Fed," the SEC, risk assessors, banks, insurers, and private mortgage lenders, little scrutiny has been applied to the epicenter of the economy's collapse, the conjoined Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

After Congress properly vilified the AIG bailout, the bailout of Fannie/Freddie ($85.9B to date with the potential to reach $400B*) and $210 million in retention bonuses drew barely a murmur. Not even the suicide of Freddie Mac's interim CFO was sufficient to prompt a serious congressional investigation of these GSEs (government-sponsored enterprises). Why?

In 2003, the Bush Administration proposed the most significant regulatory overhaul of the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis. Oversight of Fannie and Freddie, beset with accounting irregularities and $1.5 trillion in outstanding debt, was to transfer from Congress to the Treasury Department.

The plan was derailed by Democrats who, in the person of Barney Frank, declared, "These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis. The more people exaggerate these problems... the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."

Translation: If you oppose high risk lending, we will play the class/race card and make ACORN an everyday part of your life. Similarly, oversight proposed by John McCain in 2006 was upended by amongst others, Barack Obama, a beneficiary of over $100,000 in campaign contributions from Fannie and Freddie.

What President Obama "inherited" was victory in Iraq by troops he had undermined and a recession bearing his own fingerprints. But for the work of Fed Chairman Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Paulson last fall, our president could have "inherited" a depression.

*CNN Money.com, "Fannie and Freddie: The Most Expensive Bailout," July 27, 2009.

MARK FURLONG
North Coventry