By Kimberley A. Strassel
President Obama Signs Historic Stimulus BillRocky Mountain News Feb. 17 2009- Obama Signs Historic Health Care LegislationNPR March 23 2010
- Senate Poised to Pass Historic Financial ReformMcClatchy July 12 1010
- Obama Approval Hits Record LowPublic Policy Polling July 14 2010
If President Obama is proof of anything its that governance isnt so much about the whether as the what. Theres no longer any question whether this White House can close a sale. Its problem is the country doesnt like what its selling.
Which brings us to yesterdays passage of Mr. Obamas financial overhaul bill. The press is hailing it as another big Obama victory one that allows the president to brag about fulfilling his agenda and allows Democrats a reform to wave going into midterms.
Maybe. Or maybe theres every reason to believe the financial overhaullike stimulus and health careproves more political liability than political benefit.
Like stimulus and ObamaCare this bill barely survived Congress. That alone is noteworthy considering the White House had been raring for this fight figuring it an easy score against Republicans who were to be painted as either with the administration or with the Wall Street robber barons.
That line did spur Tennessees Bob Corker to rush into bipartisan talks giving Democrats ammunition against his fellow Republicans. And in the end it proved enough to lure the GOPs weaker linksMassachusettss Scott Brown and Maines Olympia Snowe and Susan Collinsinto Mr. Obamas trap. But that was it. All the forces of the White Houses populist fury against Wall Street couldnt net it more than six House and Senate Republicans in total.
Thats because like stimulus and health care Democrats turned the financial regulation bill into a monstrosity. What started as a promise to streamline and modernize the financial system turned into 2300 pages of new agencies and new powers for the very authorities that fomented the financial crisis. The bill is laden with uncertainty and brimming with costly regulations on small businesses. Sen. Chris Dodd and Rep. Barney Frank made it easy for Republicans to pronounce their bill more Obama Big Governmenta Main Street takeoverand to justify their votes against it.
Those votes were made easier by the knowledge that like stimulus and health care this is legislation that has overpromised. The bill does nothing to address the root causes of the crisis. Yet Mr. Obama recently assured the nation that it not only fixes the systems problems but was good for businesses its good for the entire economy.
This is the same White House that just launched a new campaign to convince Americans that its stimulus billwhich it promised would keep unemployment below 8is working. Its the same White House struggling to explain why health-care costs continue to rise and benefits continue to disappear after grandly promising that it would stop all that.
A recent CBS poll found that 86 of Americans believe the presidents policies have hurt them or had no effect. The financial regulatory bill has to be viewed in this contexta public that isnt begging to be fooled a third time. A Bloomberg National Poll this month says four out of five Americans have just a little or no confidence that the Democratic financial services bill will prevent or significantly soften a future crisis.
Given the radical and experimental nature of this bill they will like with the stimulus and health care have cause to read in coming months about unintended consequences. The White House is not going to be able to prove it fixed the financial system. But it will have to answer questions about the small business that cant get credit or the Midwest farmer who has been priced out of the derivatives market.
And the timing is hardly fortuitous. The White House got this far by trashing Wall Street and greedy CEOs. It did this so frequently that the discussion is shifting to how its antibusiness policies are hurting recovery.
The Business Roundtable its onetime reliable ally has revolted. The Chamber of Commerce unloaded on the administration this week calling its polices a general attack on our free enterprise system. Mr. Obama now gets to sign a bill that will lard job-sapping regulations on the business community as a whole as even the White House frets how to reassure the public that it is pro-business.
There are of course liberals in Congress and the White House for whom this political risk means little. As with health care the true believers viewed the financial bill as another opportunity to vastly expand government control over the economy and move the U.S. closer to the European system. They got their ideological victory; never mind about the political fallout.
But for those Democrats worried about keeping their jobs its far from clear this bill will help. The financial regulation bill was cast from the same big-government antibusiness mold as ObamaCare and the stimulus. The public turns against those laws by the day. Maybe financial regulation will prove third time lucky for this majority. They shouldnt count on it.
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kim@wsj.com.
