Bill Clinton and denial of reality

As a rule I only post once a day on this blog, but this is just to good a "Captain Obvious" quote to pass up. I offer from CNN the following quote from former president Bill Clinton:

I think that the only thing that our administration did or didn't do that we should have done is to try to set in motion some more formal regulation of the derivatives market. They're wrong in saying that the elimination of the Glass-Steagall division between banks and investment banks contributed to this. Investment banks were already...banks were already doing investment business and investment companies were already in the banking business. The bill I signed actually at least puts some standards there. And if you look at the evidence of the banks that have gotten in trouble, the ones that were most directly involved in there ... in a diversified portfolio tended to do better.

Where to start?

I recall Mr. Clinton's presidency with considerable fondness as being characterized by:

• Centrist government. I've observed on many occasions that Mr. Clinton really put one over on the Democratic left by being a closet centrist, a position I wholeheartedly endorse.
• Personal amorality. Here I'd note that Mr Clinton is neither the first nor the last amoral president and that many of our most effective and loved presidents were at least as, and often far more, amoral as he.
• And economic good times, though I do not believe that Mr Clinton was the architect of those times he, at least, had the great good sense to not do anything to upset them in the near term never mind that he did several things to contribute to the mess we are in now.
  

With that as prelude consider, gentle reader, the following.

There was a great depression caused, in large part, by misbehavior by banks and investment markets. One consequence of that great depression was the creation of Glass-Steagall in the hope, realized for MANY YEARS, that it could be avoided in future. During Mr. Clinton's watch Congress, please recall that it is Congress and NOT the president that passes laws, passed a series of laws that undid many of the protections created by Glass-Steagall. Now some years later, abetted by many more laws undoing protections created after the last depression, America is in a serious economic mess again.

What Mr. Clinton seems to be saying is that rather than enforce some good laws and regulations that had served the country well for many years, he acted in consort with congress (one wonders about how much money banks and investment firms contributed to how many congressmen) to undo them and make legal activities that were then and had been for some time illegal notwithstanding the federal government's unwillingness to enforce existing law and regulations. What that comes to in my book is at least being partially responsible for the current situation.

The best of us know to own our mistakes and learn from them as Mr. Obama has, surprising many myself included, recently. But as I noted above, Mr. Clinton suffers, as many powerful men do, from a certain tendency to amorality.

By way of further food for thought, when will congress get around to reinstating some of the things undone and providing more appropriate regulation of the financial sector and not just sending good money after bad?

Oh, Mr. Clinton, I should also point out that two of this country's largest banks and investment firms, to wit Bank of America and Citibank, were and remain in verious serious financial trouble notwithstanding the previous bank bailout. There is considerable wishful thinking and denial of reality in the quote attributed to you.