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We're seeing lots of media stories cropping up these days about how very, very angry Wall Street tycoons are at certain nasty Democrats who have had the temerity, the sheer gall, to stand up to them on certain issues. They are giving a lot less money to Democrats, and a lot more to Republicans- which sounds to me like the best single argument for voting Democratic that I have heard in a while.
My heart bleeds for these poor persecuted bankers and traders. People are speaking poorly of them for trashing the economy and then having to be bailed out when they are used to being worshiped by politicians and journalists, and most hurtful of all, they are not getting every single thing they want out of Congress, regulators, and the White House as they are used to. It's a shock to them.
They are regrouping, though, making sure reporters know that they just won't give as much money to Democrats as they used. And they have seen all the fun the tea partiers and progressives have had running primaries against people, so they are starting to get into the act. Earlier this year, they almost convinced Harold Ford to challenge Kirsten Gillibrand in the Senate race on the incredibly compelling "Let's stop beating up on Wall Street" platform. That didn't work out so well, but they did at least get a woman named Reshma Saujani to challenge Carolyn Maloney in a primary for her House seat. Sanjani has raised at least 800 K from Wall Street traders, using quotes like "We need to extend a hand [to Wall Street] rather than a fist" to proclaim her love for the big bankers.
Maloney has been irritating the hell out of Wall Street types for a while now. Her credit card consumer bill of rights has cost Visa, Mastercard, and the big banks billions of dollars; she played an incredibly important role negotiating a good compromise on the swipe fee issue that will move billions more from bank profits into merchants and small businesspeople's pockets; her overall role on the financial reform bill was incredibly constructive and important.
Us progressives are justifiably angered at how much power Wall Street and other big corporate interests have over our government, but we also sometimes forget the wealth and power of the industries we oppose. It takes real courage for leaders like Carolyn Maloney to take on the titans of Wall St, because they can quickly find a candidate who is happy to be in their pocket and can quickly raise them a boatload of money to take potshots at them. Here's a shout-out Carolyn Maloney: thanks for having the guts to be on the side of us regular folks.
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