Dow Falls 504 Points as Obama's Chances Fade

The decline in Senator Obama's fortunes in the 2008 election have been followed closely by a sharp stock market decline today due to the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. This bodes ill for my home town, New York City, and for my home state, New York, as both depend heavily on Wall Street and finance for their revenues.

Contrairimairi has forwarded a seemingly unrelated piece of news. Jennifer Rubin of Commentary Magazine.com notes that Mr. Obama is one of the largest recipients of donations from Fannie and Freddie Mac. Back in 2007 the Washington Post noted that Senator Obama was the largest recipient of donations from Wall Street. Thus, 17 months ago, before he overtook Senator Clinton in the primaries:

"The Illinois senator raised $479,209 from employees at the banks in the quarter, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Giuliani collected $473,442, and Clinton got $447,625. The figures are based on employers listed by the donors; in some cases, names are incomplete or missing."

This was back in April 2007 when I and many others had heard little about Senator Obama. Of course, with the backing of George Soros and Warren Buffett, Wall Street has been absolutely thrilled with Senator Obama's candidacy. Obama was talking about change for Americans when he really meant million dollar bonuses for the good folks on Wall and Broad.

In June 2008 I blogged that:

"In contrast to Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley has traditionally given to Republicans, according to Open Secrets.org. However, in 2008 Morgan Stanley has donated $1.4 million to Democrats and only $824.8 thousand to Republicans. As far as the finance, insurance and real estate industry as a whole, open secrets reports that in 2008, for the first time since 1990 when it begins its report, the industry as a whole is favoring the Democrats over the Republicans."

Wall Street has benefited from decades of Republican financial subsidies in the form of artificially reduced interest rates that have inflated the stock market, enhancing stock valuations and hence the turnover of stocks as investors have speculated to a far greater degree than they would have. Clearly, the Republicans have been running out of steam, as their subsidies have gone into the pockets of Wall Street bounders who lack the competence to manage even a subsidized business. Wall Street probably hoped that Mr. Obama was a plumed knight come to rescue them from their self-created dragons of inflation and American economic decline. Wall Street has been slurping up the resources of hard working Americans via Federal Reserve Bank inflation for decades, and now they are going bankrupt nevertheless. This is not incompetence. It is corruption.

I can't help but wonder if the stock market is declining in part as a reaction to the reality that Mr. Obama won't be around to help them in the coming four years.

The Obama Campaign's Meanness

Real Clear Politics shows a copy of one of the meanest smear ads I have ever seen, recently released by the Obama campaign. The ad features a series of vicious lies from the pro-Obama media. I do not really watch or read any mainstream news source except for the New York Sun at this point. And the Sun is slated to cease publication at the end of this month. The video on Real Clear Politics says more than enough about the Democrats and Barack Obama.

Barack Obama for Vice President

I have figured out a way to rescue the Democratic presidential run. Ever since Sarah Palin's nomination was announced, the media has made much of comparing her experience with Mr. Obama's. "She's too inexperienced" complain media pundits, for Governor Palin has two years of executive experience while Senator Obama has none. The comparisons are catching like a California brush fire. Some have suggested that Joe Biden step down and allow Hillary Clinton to replace him as the vice presidential nominee in order to capture the women's vote. At this point, reports Texas Darlin, despite advice to focus on Senator McCain, the Obama team can't stop going after Sarah Palin.

Given the repeated comparisons between Governor Palin and Senator Obama, Senator Biden should step down and Senator Obama should accept the vice presidential nod in place of his current presidential claim. Senator Clinton, who is more appropriately experienced for the nomination could then replace Senator Obama as the presidential nominee.

In that way the Democrats could recapture the women's vote and have an experienced candidate.

Obama Wan Kanobi

Jonah Goldberg has an excellent analysis of the changing fortunes of the Republican Party:

"Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi have managed to drive Congress' approval ratings to near absolute zero. Also, if you don't actually think Barack Obama is a higher life form, listening to the press talk like Princess Leia for a year - "Help us Obama Wan Kenobi, you're our only hope!" - can get really old. Republicans feel a lot like Elaine in that Seinfeld episode where she was the only person in the world who didn't understand why everyone fawned over "The English Patient...

"Changing everything was Sarah Palin. Suddenly, conservatives not only found something to love on the GOP ticket, but the boldness of the pick suggested that the outcome wasn't written in stone."