RUSH: This is Obama today at his press conferences where he loves to play president. Jessica Yellin, the infobabe from CNN said, ‘You suggest that you are outraged by the Madoff scandal. This year we also saw a meltdown on Wall Street and a crisis in the mortgage industry, which both Congress and our regulatory agencies missed.’ Uh, Jessica, can I ask you a question here? It should properly be said this way: This year, Mr. President-select, we also saw a meltdown on Wall Street and a crisis in the mortgage industry, which both Congress and regulatory agencies CAUSED. ‘So do you plan to overhaul the SEC? Was Congress asleep at the switch? And what specific steps will you take to restore the American people’s confidence in the government’s, not just ability, but willingness to regulate the financial industry?’
OBAMA: We have been asleep at the switch. Uhhh, not just some of the regulatory agencies but, uh, some —
RUSH: Stop the tape here. Cue it back up to the top. ‘We have been asleep at the switch.’ Now, for the last, well, how many years, Obama’s been in the Senate. Where was he? Asleep at the switch!
OBAMA: We have been asleep at the switch. Uhhh, not just some of the regulatory agencies but, uh, some of, uhhh, theeeeee, uh, congressional committees that might have, uh, been taking a look at this stuff. We are going to have to greatly strengthen our regulatory apparatus —
RUSH: Oh, yeah.
OBAMA: — and update it from what worked for a Twentieth Century financial system so that it works in a Twenty-First Century financial system.
RUSH: Of course!
OBAMA: Now, this will be one of my earliest initiatives —
RUSH: Yes!
OBAMA: — and we will be releasing a very detailed plan —
RUSH: Mmm-hmm. Right.
OBAMA: — on how we think that, uhh, regulatory upgrade will takes place. It’s premature for me to give you all the details at this point.
RUSH: Because if I did, you would regret having voted for me!
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Barack Obama at his press conference today in Chicago had a question here from Ebony magazine’s Sylvester Monroe: ‘Mr. President-select, it seems that there is a crisis in confidence among American people in government, in our financial institutions. What do you plan to do in your administration to work on this crisis of confidence?’
OBAMA: The American people right now are feeling frustrated that there is not a lot of adult supervision out there.
RUSH: There is!
OBAMA: In the political world or in the financial world, there’s a sense that anything has been going on, that whatever is good for me, I do. There needs to be a shift in ethics on Wall Street. Everybody from CEOs to shareholders to investors are going to have to be asking themselves, not only is this profitable, not only whether this will boost my bonus, but is it right? Does it conform to some higher standards in terms of how we operate?
RUSH: Well, I thought this was already done. I thought that his election was going to transform people in this way. So the president of the United States is going to convince everybody from CEOs to shareholders to investors to basically focus on fairness and not profit, because that’s the only way to fix this. We need some adult supervision. We’ve had adult supervision. It’s called Chris Dodd, it’s called Franklin Raines, it’s called Barney Frank, it’s called Jim Johnson, it’s called Nancy Pelosi, it’s called Harry Reid. We’ve had lots of adult supervision here. It’s called Rod Blagojevich. We’ve had a lot of adult supervision here, and they got exactly what they wanted, Mr. President-select.