Phil Gramm And The Crisis, Ctd.

A reader writes:

Careful of Taibbi as a source. He's a bit of an ideologue.

Credit Default Swaps weren't "deregulated." They were too new. Instead, Congress, the Treasury Dept. and Wall Street refused to regulate them. This is not a Republican lapse. The Clinton White House and Treasury Dept. took the same position. Everyone did. The vote for the Gramm bill was ... overwhelming and bipartisan. unanimous.

The question will be whether Obama is more independent of his Wall Street financiers than the Clintons, Bush et al ever were. It would mean standing up to some of his most important supporters. Schumer, Bill, Hillary, Barney weren't able to do it.