That's like rebuilding the World Trade Center and calling it the Mohammad Atta Towers.
He took big money in campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In the summer of 2008 he said the following:
I think this is a case where Fannie and Freddie are fundamentally sound, that they are not in danger of going under. They’re not the best investments these days from the long-term standpoint going back. I think they are in good shape going forward.Since 2003 he has been the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee and became its chair in 2008. In response to the Bush Administration's concern that Fannie and Freddie were in trouble, he said:
"These two entities...are not facing any kind of financial crisis.... The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."And roundly blocked any attempt by the Bush administration to reduce Fannie and Freddie's contributions to the housing bubble (Bush wanted what the executive branch normally has, oversight and enforcement of the law, instead of Congress both establishing and overseeing these entities).
OK, maybe Barney's not a bad guy (he is) and maybe he didn't have a conflict of interests (he did) and maybe he was unaware that Fannie and Freddie were artificially inflating the housing market (he wasn't). Maybe he just made a few mistakes.
OK - we all make mistakes. But where I come from, you get fired for this sort of thing and your reputation tends to suffer. You're not lauded with praise for closing the barn door after the cash cow is gone.
Obviously I don't come from Washington DC.
Or Boston.
