Dems Hit GOP In National TV Ad On Wall Street Reforms

It's the first national political TV ad from either of the parties this election cycle: the Democratic National Committee is hitting Republicans for opposing Democratic financial reforms, in a TV ad that starts "as early as this week," according to the DNC, on national and DC cable TV:

Polling has shown that a significant portion of respondents think Wall Street has benefited from the Obama administration's response to the financial crisis--40 percent said banks and investment companies benefited most, in the last Allstate/National Journal Heartland Monitor poll--although, it should be noted, the financial bailout was originated through Congress under President Bush; Obama's Treasury Dept. simply continued to administer it.

So financial reform could figure importantly in the Democrats' electoral future, even though it's not the major focus right now. Given that voters want jobs to be the #1 item on the agenda, the political mood seems to be pro-jobs-measures and anti-Wall-Street--meaning financial reforms, along with the jobs bill Democrats are trying to move through Congress--will make up half of the Democratic response to that current climate.

But Democrats have had a tough time so far pushing through their reforms, which includes plans for a Consumer Financial Protection Agency. Economic populism on the right will affect the discourse on financial reforms within the GOP: conservatives don't want any more regulation of any sort, as the anti-stimulus fiscal conservatism that grew in 2009 is (as it has been guided by the Tea Party movement, with help from national groups like FreedomWorks, the American Liberty Alliance, and the economic incentives of the Club for Growth's election spending) primarily a free market, Randian, economic libertarianism--meaning conservative primary candidates will run on the idea of leaving business alone entirely, vehemently opposing the Democratic drive for "regulation."