
Eric Schneiderman (second row, second from left) joins applause for Michelle Obama during President Obama's state of the union address, Jan. 24, 2012. Photograph: Susan Walsh/AP
Is This, Finally, the Moment Obama Gets Tough with Wall Street?
Amy Goodman, The Guardian, 01-26-2012
http://bit.ly/y8MSfw
In his state of the union address, many heard echoes of the Barack Obama of old, the presidential aspirant of 2007 and 2008.
Among the populist pledges rolled out in the speech was tough talk against the too-big-to-fail banks that have funded his campaigns and for whom many of his key advisers have worked: “The rest of us are not bailing you out ever again,” he promised.
President Obama also made a striking announcement, one that could have been written by the Occupy Wall Street general assembly:
“I’m asking my attorney general to create a special unit of federal prosecutors and leading state attorneys general to expand our investigations into the abusive lending and packaging of risky mortgages that led to the housing crisis. This new unit will hold accountable those who broke the law, speed assistance to homeowners and help turn the page on an era of recklessness that hurt so many Americans.”
Remarkably, President Obama named New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman as co-chairperson of the Unit on Mortgage Origination and Securitization Abuses. Schneiderman was on a team of state attorneys general negotiating a settlement with the nation’s five largest banks. He opposed the settlement as being too limited and offering overly generous immunity from future prosecution for financial fraud.











