The GOP and the Politics of Financial Reform :: Karl Rove

The GOP and the Politics of Financial Reform :: Karl Rove:

This is a season of discontent for congressional Democrats. This week's Pew Poll holds plenty of bad news for them. Congress's favorability ratings stand at 25%, the lowest in the poll's nearly three decade-long history. The Pew Poll also found that the more upset independents are about the current state of politics, the more likely they are to throw out the Democrats. The independents that are most upset favor Republicans 66% to 13%.

All of this explains why Democrats hope Sen. Chris Dodd's proposed financial reform legislation will put some distance between them and the Obama administration's reckless spending policies over the past year. They believe that by overhauling the rules Wall Street lives by, they can redirect populist anger away from them and toward the financial sector. But voters are smart enough to see through the ploy."