This presidential election has already been punched by the October Surprise. It came on us like a plague that has been festering on Wall Street and in the halls of Congress for years. Some call it “The Financial Crisis.” I call it the Obama bailout, a self-fulfilling gift that has put him ahead of Sen. John McCain in the polls while scaring the bejeebers out of Joe and Jane American.
The timing of the chain reactions (The Crisis) was, in my opinion, controlled by federal bureaucrats. The notion that this timing, after years of the fiscal systems rotting away, was coincidental to the election is too much to accept. It didn’t need a conspiracy, per se. All it needed was a simpatico point of view that, if another proclaimed reformer were to be elected, it would be trouble for the status quo.
There is plenty of finger-pointing and blame to go around, but, because this has heavily impacted the presidential election, we need to look at which candidate benefits from the “crisis” and which saw this disaster coming. Which of the two senators tried to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and which one took large contributions from the group?
Back when I learned journalism 101, I was taught this simple but effective tip: Follow the money. I did, and it leads right to Barack Obama. What irritates me is that the McCain campaign hasn’t been sufficiently clear on this issue, showing that he – not Obama – wants reform of the government-backed lending systems.
This debacle that is hurting Americans across the board heated up during the Clinton administration. It was then that Clinton loosened requirements for home loans so more folks could get loans. Sadly, these people couldn’t really afford those loans.
At the same time, two Clinton cronies, Franklin Raines and Jamie Gorelick, who worked in the Clinton administration, were appointed to run Fannie Mae. Raines and Gorelick got millions of dollars in bonuses at the same time the feds uncovered massive fraud at Fannie Mae.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac kept the wheels greased in Congress with big contributions to lawmakers. Guess who was among the top recipients?
Obama.
Jerome Corsi wrote about it here at WorldNetDaily:
“According to OpenSecrets.com, from 1989 to 2008, Dodd received $165,400 in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac campaign contributions, including contributions from PACs and individuals, followed by Obama, who received $126,349 in such contributions since being elected to the Senate in 2004.”
McCain saw the mess and moved to do something about it, taking to the floor of the Senate in 2006 to sound the warning, two years after the Bush administration tried to correct the out-of-control bloodsuckers from the left.
“Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae’s regulator reported that the company’s quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were ‘illusions deliberately and systematically created’ by the company’s senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal,” McCain said. “The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight’s report goes on to say that Fannie Mae employees deliberately and intentionally manipulated financial reports to hit earnings targets in order to trigger bonuses for senior executives. In the case of Franklin Raines, Fannie Mae’s former chief executive officer, OFHEO’s report shows that over half of Mr. Raines’ compensation for the six years through 2003 was directly tied to meeting earnings targets. The report of financial misconduct at Fannie Mae echoes the deeply troubling $5 billion profit restatement at Freddie Mac.”
McCain was speaking in support of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005. Obama did not support this reform. Instead, his campaign hitched up with the failed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives. That’s kind of like law enforcement asking Al Capone for advice on how to clean up the mob.
Back in Missouri, where I grew up, we would call this “putting the fox in the henhouse.” The foxes were knee-deep in excrement and came out smelling like a dozen roses, thanks to Obama and the Democrats who turned their heads.
The truth is that this Democrat fiasco should not have been a real October Surprise. John McCain saw it coming and he warned about it and supported legislation to help fix it. But the Democrats, who were well entrenched with their buddies at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, stymied the work that could have saved us from this mess.
Obama and his left-wing cohorts in this fiasco are the problem. McCain showed foresight and leadership, both qualities Americans must embrace in the next president.
