There was a moment in the speech that spoke volumes about the high hurdle financial reform is facing.
The White House had sent a copy of the president’s remarks to reporters and I was underlining key parts of it as he spoke. Near the end of the speech, Obama movingly exhorted his audience to demonstrate that they have taken to heart their obligation to help “families who need their mortgages modified,” “small business owners who desperately need loans,” and “communities that would benefit from the financing [they] could provide.” In the speech as written, he was supposed to end this run by calling on Wall Street “to embrace serious financial reform, not fight it.”
But when the president actually delivered the line, he edited it, saying instead that Wall Street should “embrace serious reform, not resist it.”
That one-word change says everything you need to know about why all the president’s well-intentioned pronouncements won’t actually lead to fundamental reform. The president is utterly misreading the opponents of reform. They are not passively resisting; they are aggressively fighting against reform with every weapon they have in their extremely well-funded arsenal.
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Arianna Huffington: Why Obama Won’t Be Able to Reform Wall Street
Arianna calls the speech heartfelt and well intentioned, but shockingly naive.
