Talk is Cheap

I never thought I'd say it:  But George W. Bush is lookin pretty good compared to the sorry excuse for a President the US has now.  At least Bush wouldn't try to win you over with starry eyed rhetoric (more talk = more Bushism sound clips).   Even if I didn't agree with most of his actions: invading Iraq, instituting a massive new branch of government (Homeland Security), tax cuts that his country couldn't possibly afford, massive deficit spending...at least he DID something.

Barack Obama has talked for well over 2 years.  And talked.  And talked.  You'd think he was still in fucking campaign mode.  DO something, jackass!  You have plenty of things that NEED to be done (get out of Iraq, balance the budget, fix the economy, stop bailouts, end fraud).  Yet, all you do is TALK.  Do something.  Fuck, it doesn't even have to be legislative, all you have to do to "fix" the problem of endless corporate greed and fraud is start enforcing EXISTING laws.  Where are the criminal investigations against rampant mortgage fraud?  You can't just fucking scold banks, and then not hold them accountable.  Laws are only meaningful if you actually enforce them.  Reinstate leverage limits if you're worried about "excess leverage".  Start bringing criminal indictments against ALL the fraudulent lending.  Reinstate mark-to-market accounting and get banks to remove all their bullshit off-balance sheet assets.   There's a reason that shit is hidden, it's because no-one wants to see it.  Ban CDS's, move derivitives to be traded on an open exchange.

Or you could give bankers a lecture...ya that will fix everything:

Mr. Obama accused the financial industry of spending millions on lobbyists and offering misleading arguments and attacks to derail the proposed reform legislation, which is aimed at cracking down on Wall Street in the wake of the worst financial crisis in decades.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a comprehensive set of reforms, while the U.S. Senate is debating a version of the proposals.

Although his tone was stern, Mr. Obama's speech was largely conciliatory, which could help pave the way for passage of the legislation.

"[The] crisis was born of a failure of responsibility--from Wall Street to Washington -- that brought down many of the world's largest financial firms and nearly dragged our economy into a second Great Depression," Mr. Obama said.

Take responsibility for your own actions such as enforcing existing laws, before you start flapping your gums about "banks behaving badly".   It's YOUR responsibility to ensure existing laws are enforced.  Put up or shut up.

If you don't fix the culture of fraud, you will clearly demonstrate the major difference between your presidency and your predecessor's.  While both will be deemed abject failures, I tend to think of your predecessor's defining quality as one of incompetence.  Your legacy, however, will be far worse.  Your presidency will not be defined as one of incompetence, but one of willful complicity with the banking lobby.  Hope and change = more empty rhetoric.