Kaufman Rip the Hide off the Banks: The Power of Lameduckery

I'm has invigorated by a lot of people at the verve and polish of the woodshedding administered to the finance industry by Delaware Senator Ted Kaufman--not less bracing as inflicted by the former AA to then-Senator (now VP) Joe Biden--that is to say, somebody who has been around Washington long enough to know whereof he speaks.

I also liked Simon Johnson's appreciative commentary, but I think Simon misses the point. He says:

And yes, DE stands for Delaware – corporate America has finally decided that its largest financial offspring are way out of line and must be reined in.

The point Simon misses is that Kaufman is a lame duck and so does not have to give a ducktail about what anyone else thinks--in particular his corporate non-overlords. This is pretty clearly a guy who decided he was going to take the interim appointment for all the fun it offered, and not have to worry about pleasing anybody but himself.

And yes, it is too bad that we can't get that performance out of the other great lame duck, whose own reform package looks pretty insipid by comparison.