The latest meme being thrown by the Obama team is that McCain hasn’t done anything to prevent the crisis taking place on Wall Street. But the thing is, McCain had a lot to say about Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in recent years. According to Ed Morrissey, McCain was one of three co-sponsors of an act that would have done something about the two companies:
Mr. President, this week Fannie Mae’s regulator reported that the company’s quarterly reports of profit growth over the past few years were “illusions deliberately and systematically created” by the company’s senior management, which resulted in a $10.6 billion accounting scandal…
For years I have been concerned about the regulatory structure that governs Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac–known as Government-sponsored entities or GSEs–and the sheer magnitude of these companies and the role they play in the housing market. OFHEO’s report this week does nothing to ease these concerns. In fact, the report does quite the contrary. OFHEO’s report solidifies my view that the GSEs need to be reformed without delay.
I join as a cosponsor of the Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act of 2005, S. 190, to underscore my support for quick passage of GSE regulatory reform legislation. If Congress does not act, American taxpayers will continue to be exposed to the enormous risk that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pose to the housing market, the overall financial system, and the economy as a whole.
Obama has tried to pin the blame of what is going on McCain and the GOP, but McCain did try to do something, that seems like regulation to me.
Crossposted at the Square Deal