Peter DeFazio: It's 'Pretty Embarrassing' That Dems Now Identified With Wall Street

[earth mom]

One of the loudest populist voices in the Democratic Caucus predicted on Thursday that the party may have to forcefully challenge the White House on economic matters if it wants to hold on to power after the 2010 elections.

One day after calling on Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to resign, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) told the Huffington Post that there were a lot of Democrats who were "upset and nervous with" the handling of the economy by the administration.

"It is pretty embarrassing for a Democratic administration and a Democratic Congress to be identified with total attention to Wall Street and nothing for Main Street and jobs," he said. "There are a lot of Democrats who... want to see something more effective done to create employment."

DeFazio insisted that President Obama and, by extension, the Democratic Party were hampered by Geithner's policies for economic recovery. He pointed to the inability of the administration to spur small business lending and the lack of effective TARP oversight as particularly egregious examples of mismanagement. More than anything else, the Oregon Democrat deemed it untenable for the president to continue employing his current economic team given the taint of Wall Street that clings to many of those advisers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/20/peter-defazio-dem-rep-its_n_365463.html

[AllentownJake]

1. Houston we have a problem

It isn't 1993, like the President initially thought

[mmonk]

6. Ding ding! We have a winner.

[AllentownJake]

11. I haven't made meatballs in a while

:hi:

[mmonk]

25. .

:hi:

As far as meatballs are concerned, we're having some on Thanksgiving.

[4dsc]

2. Obama and Geithner don't have my support

needless to say, I see very little difference between this administration and the last one.. They are only looking out for the people in power and the wealthy and not the average Joe..

[spanone]

32. you should look harder.

[Thrill]

3. Maybe they wouldn't if you didn't run around saying Tim Geitner is responsible

Democrats are so stupid sometimes.

[Political Heretic]

8. Is saying what's embarassing is that its true, not that its an incorrect identification.

And yes, Democrats are very stupid sometimes. They're also very classist and have a real hard time talking about and acting on poverty, while they have no trouble acting on behalf of the interests of the wealthy and the financial elite. And that is pretty embarrassing.

[FLAprogressive]

22. +700 billion

[anonymous171]

30. I know. They vote for pro-wallstreet candidates and expect them to work for the people!

What idiots!

[27inCali]

37. Now THERE is an embarssing truth that needs to be told

I'll criticize Obama for choosing a bunch of corporate hacks to run his economic policy. I don't think he did it on purpose, he just went with what looked like a conventional choice, but that choice turned out to be wrong and now he has to stand up and admit he was wrong and I think he's capable of it too.

Geithner and Summers gotta go. That would do so much to help the situation.

but we still need to look at ourselves and ask why the public keeps sending corporate hacks to Congress to represent them?

[Hawkowl]

31. Geithner was Federal Reserve Govenor of NY

THE single most powerful Fed Governor. He was responsible for the supervising of all of Wall Street. He, along with Greenspan, bear most of the responsibility of the credit crisis. THAT WAS HIS JOB!!

Obama effectively put the Fox in charge of the hen house. He knew it, and he did it anyway. It is dems like you, clueless on what the Federal Reserve is, how monetary policy is conducted, and who actually runs the economy, that are truly ignorant--to everyone's detriment.

[Octafish]

4. Mr. DeFazio represents the Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party.

Geithner protected Goldman Sachs' insurance with AIG to the tune of $13 Billion, at least.

Thank you for the article, earth mom. More Americans are discovering that economics isn't really the "dismal science," it's a really neat way for insiders to hide control fraud.

[optimator]

5. the Dem party needs to find a 2012 challenger

before its too late. I know it won't happen, but there will be consequences for ignoring the public.

[Political Heretic]

13. The Dem Party fully endorses and backs the direction of the adminsitration and participates in it.

So there's no one in the Dem Party interested in fielding any sort of challenger, because as far as they're concerned, everything is going perfectly according to plan. Dems are in power, they have great relationships with the financial elite and have their solid support, the money is rolling in, what's the problem? :eyes:

There are scant few noble Democrats left in Washington. The only place one can go to find Democrats that still have some sort of genuine commitment to the poor and working class are individuals who register as democrats but are not in positions within the Democratic party, or local elected offices in cities and sometimes state governments. On the national state the Democratic party is bereft of decency and getting worse each passing year.

Something needs to be done.

I will continue to vote for Democratic candidates when I feel that they are sufficiently less revolting than a Republican alternative. But I'm ashamed to associate with this corrupt national party that has betrayed any sort of honest alignment with the working class it may have once had, and has instead aligned itself with privilege as a tool of exploitation of the poor. I'm no longer registered as a Democrat out of disgust.

I don't advocate third parties, I'd be more than thrilled to see the Democratic party retaken by people whos fundamental commitment was to economic justice and the rights of the poor and working class first. I'll never advocate for voting for a third party, and I'll never make any post here that encourages anyone to not vote.

Hopefully, there will still be a place for my voice and opinion in this community. But as a personal choice, I refuse to have myself identified with this national party that betrays the poor on behalf of the privileged. Not until the national representatives of the party make a fundamental shift toward the working class, and make poverty a top platform priority in policy and rhetoric.

[Political Heretic]

7. Before everyone rushes to trash DeFazio, look at his record - and think about who you're trashing.

DeFozio is absolutely right, and what's more, most honest persons willing to look at the evidence first, and put party or politics second, knows it.

This isn't "confusing." It's not rocket-science. People know why policies have been implemented the way they have, and they know who the primary beneficiaries are. The Administration has been engaged in full scale trickle-down economics since taking office, and every action - from the management and distribution of tarp, to the stimulus bill, to the wall-street first focus in recovery efforts clearly reflects this.

And the reason this is done is to keep corporate powers "backing the throne" so-to-speak of politicians in washington in their positions and well funded. Prioritize the investor class and the financial elite first, then whatever second hand benefits you can "squeeze" in for the working class after that. Hopefully what's good for wall street will "trickle down" to everyone else. The Obama Administration practicing Reaganonmics while Democrats cheer him on for doing so. And as far as the poor go, who aren't even seriously discussed (only the "middle class" who lost jobs they already had or fell into poverty because of a "tough economy") well, let them eat cake. They don't vote, and they don't give multi millions of dollars to candidates, so screw em.


I'm PROUD the Peter DeFazio is my representative. His office personally helped my father when he was struggling in poverty - Defazio communicated with my father personally, and then his chief of staff (Frank) stayed in personal communication with my father for the nine months it took to get him recognized as disabled and approved for veterans disability that need both desperately needed to live and also deserved. It was his office's willingness to be involved in that process that insured my father got the help he needed, and that pulled my mother and father out of poverty.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

10. As a proud democrat and an Oregonian I've no problem saying...

Defazio's completely full of shit again.

[Political Heretic]

15. There's not a single substantive, truthful piece of evidence you can offer to back up that claim.

Not one.

[FLAprogressive]

21. that's never stopped him.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

27. Actually, that was a statement of opinion.

If you want some facts here are some: Geithner supported the stimulus package that's created or saved hundreds of thousands of jobs. Peter Defazio voted against it. By their own actions, Geithner cares more about the american worker than Peter Defazio.

[chill_wind]

28. self-delete

for wrong assertion. my apologies.

[Raineyb]

35. Geithner was in charge of the NY Fed when the shit hit the fan.

And he's not been too quick to do a damn thing to reel in his old Wall Street Buddies; nor do I expect him to start any time soon.

[AllentownJake]

17. Not a fan of Defazio?

Please let us reason together, what has Tim Geithner done that warrants his current government position.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. Defazio's normally fine.

But he's full of shit on this.

"Please let us reason together, what has Tim Geithner done that warrants his current government position."

He's won the approval of Barack Obama and has since then turned the economy around from the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression.

What's he done that warrants his resignation? That's just a RW meme being pushed since they think he's an easy target. He was at the capitol yesterday pushing bank reforms, and all the republicans want to discuss is Geithner's resignation.

[AllentownJake]

19. The arguments over a recovery are real arguments

The T-bill posted a negative yield yesterday, which means investors feel that the the financial system has some sort of real risk.

Housing starts were down, mortgage payment deqliquency were up, and foreclosures were relatively flat despite relief programs in October. 1/3 of all mortgages in trouble now are Prime mortgages.

Sales tax revenues were down in October, despite sales being up (still trying to figure out how that happened)

The reform bills he has pushed have been panned unfavorably by many.

Than there is the report of his behavior as a regulator at the FED during the AIG crisis.

Oh, I could talk about unemployment but that is of course a lagging indicator, in fact jobs don't have to return at all in order for there to be a recovery, just as long as GDP does.

I think there is a case for his resignation. I'm pretty sure the President didn't have the AIG report when he appointed him in the vetting process for one.

[debbierlus]

9. Obama has been purchased. He can't go against his handlers

Dance with the devil....what do you expect?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

12. The embarrassment is certainly justified considering Geithner and a trickle down "recovery".

That, maybe, someday, might, if the conditions are right, and the bankers approve, actually help people.

[Political Heretic]

14. It's been Reaganomics in action.

[Romulox]

16. Not just "Wall Street", but rather "Wall Street INCOMPETENCE". nt

[FLAprogressive]

20. DeFazio is one of the few good ones we have.

[Blue-Jay]

23. I can't come to a conclusion until I hear from Laverne DeFazio.

[Bluenorthwest]

24. I am proud to be Represented by Peter DeFazio

Today and every day. This honest talk is why he is so popular with the voters here. He actually works for us. And to those who may be prone to rag on Peter, know that he also worked hard and early for Barack Obama around here, where his word carries much weight.
And of course he is correct.

[earth mom]

26. Kick for Truth! nt

[Odin2005]

29. Larry Summers needs to be canned, pronto.

[Political Heretic]

34. The list of people needing to be canned in this adminstration grows rather long.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[inna]

36. Excellent post! Too late to rec, but... a kick nevertheless!

:kick:

[dusmcj]

38. It's pretty embarassing (no quotes) that the DP is largely a bunch of incompetent clots

who need to practice 'great man' politics because by themselves they couldn't fight their way out of a paper bag (instead they put "fight" in their email subject lines). STFU, Pete.

In 2000 when I showed up to volunteer locally, one young insider thought it best to suggest in a sidelong way that I should join the 'progressives'. At the time those were on the outside, the ghetto for the folks who weren't candyassed when people used 'liberal' as a slur (and he had me right on that score). Now the tables have turned, but the problem is the same. Groupthink to borrow an insightful phrase from The Sixties, and the comforting privileges of club membership, with the ethical compromises (read: modifications of objective truth) that it alas requires, is like kryptonite for American politics right now, and while I think it would be great if the GOP went into chapter 7 because of it (they sure tried to socially engineer it into the American social fabric starting with Bush I and his CIA cronies) the Democrats should shy away from thinking themselves immune to it shall we say. Just look at the strident insistence on dogmatic conformance frequently visible here and you'll start to understand the nature and depth of the problem.