If Blanche Lincoln had won the primary outright last night, then her proposal to require that banks separate themselves from their swap desks would be dead, and the bullet would have been Chris Dodd’s proposal, which was to defer implementation for a year for a ‘study’, and then let Timothy “Eddie Haskell as Wall Street’s Bitch” Giethner decide whether it was necessary.
We all know what Geithner would do.
But Lincoln is going to a runoff, and her opponent, Bill Halter, is already saying that this is exactly what she planned, that she would make the proposal, but would let it die once it was politically convenient.
So, Chris Dodd has decided not to introduce the “kill the regulation” amendment.
My guess is that he got a frantic call from Lincoln this morning, begging him to wait until after the June 8 runoff, and so the dynamics of the Congressional incumbency protection racket dictates that he pull the amendment off the table ……… At least until June 9.
I agree with your analysis, and I think this is going to be a really, *really* interesting election (Lincoln/Halter). I'm especially curious to see how the White House (typo: "White Hose") will play it. If Lincoln wins (I hope she doesn't), and if her amendment conveniently goes away as you predict, I hope Republicans beat her over the head and body with it, (correctly) depicting her as a Wall Street/corporatist mole, not to mention phony & liar. Of course, she may prove me wrong, and/or Halter may win.
In any case, I expect the Obama/Emmanuel/Geithner/Summers White House to side 100% with the fat cats. The interesting question is, how naked they will be when doing so? If Halter wins, their nakedness will probably be even more exposed than it's been by the Sestak win in Pennsylvania.
My hope is that Barack Obama can learn. I know that history shows that the Rahm won't learn from electoral reversals.