The Democratic consensus on bail-out is now in place IMO (Obama clinches Election)

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

Excellent surprise Obama presser. He looked good and said all the right things. Very presidential. I could not be more pleased. The DOW went up during the presser, probably because Obama was staking out a position accepting the bail-out in broad conceptual terms.

For obvious political reasons, Obama could not get specific until some sort of consensus emerged among congressional Dems. (You don't say, in the late stage of a campaign, the bill should be X, Y and Z unless you have a good reason to think it will be X, Y and Z. Otherwise you look weak and/or irrelevant.)

So I think we can say we know the general shape of the bill.

1) Accept the reality and emergency of the crisis
2) Populist stance on compensation (In $$$ it's a joke issue either way, but good politics.)
3) Replace Paulson's individual authority with a bipartisan board
4) Equity Stakes

Additional 'main street' stimulus that will follow a bail-out, not to be included in the emergency bill.

This was all always baked in the cake. This was pretty certain to be the Dem position as early as last Friday.

(The dictatorial authority and absence of oversight in the bill were clearly there to be bargained away. They knew Congress wasn't going to to pass it as is so there were some outrages built in to provide congress some 'victories' in negotiations.)


____________

As a political matter I would have added, "As we pursue aggressive stimulus that directly addresses mortgages, rather than merely mortgage backed securities, I will be taking a serious look at Senator Clinton's proposal for a revitalization of Franklin Roosevelt's Homeowners' Loan Corporation." (Invoking FDR and a nod to the Clinton economic talisman would be good politics with Reagan Dems.)

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

1. ---

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

7. ; - )

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

18. :- (

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

2. !!!

[FrenchieCat]

3. Good commentary.....

better than those on television!

[grantcart]

4. good take and a good suggestion

[Enrique]

5. did he say there was a consensus?

if so, that's great news.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

6. No, that's my deduction.

I've been posting all week about how Obama could not get specific until congress formed a behind-the-scenes sense of where they were going to end up.

It would be an error to be on a different page from the Dem concensus... you don't want a bunch of Dems running for re-election running against Obama's position. That would be a mess.

So my theory has been that Obama would get more specific as soon as there was enough consensus that he wouldn't be painting himself into a corner.

Based on today's press conference I think we know the shape of the thing.

But I can always be wrong!

[MSU_Spartans]

8. I'd like those equity stakes in sound investment

Let the banks suck up the bad debt, and we'll invest in their sound investments instead. we make a profit, and they stay afloat and get a chance to fix things.

[samuraiguppy]

9. our guy looked terrific!!

I am still crossing my fingers to still how things work out....

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

10. Economically, who knows? Electorally I think that was a big moment, though.

[mzmolly]

11. Mother F I missed it!

:cry:

Thanks for the recap though.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

14. It was short. Should be available soon in the internet.

[mzmolly]

15. Thank ya.

:hi:

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

17. Your welcome

[Skidmore]

12. I think you are correct.

He's leading....

expect McCain to follow shortly, then claim it as his own.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

13. McCain has three choices:

1) Obama is trying to destroy the economy by messing with the bill, which is prefect just how it is and which I support 100%.

or...

2) The bill is a big-government tax boondoggle. I will vote against it.

or...

3) I generally agree with Obama. Let's get back to talking about Iran.

[nyc 4 Biden]

16. Obama's bailout plan is good but

I am still against the bailout altogether. Sorry, but I don't trust the repubs with all that money. What happens when they steal the election, god forbid, and do what they want with the cash. Look what happened when we authorized the Iraq war. I bet at that time we thought there would be oversight and prudence. We shouldn't fall for this again. Just my opinion though.