Obama Better in Crisis

Bloomberg: Obama called for the overhaul of the financial-regulatory system and tougher enforcement well before this past week's traumas.
Detached observers who watched him last week, especially in a Bloomberg Television interview, were taken by how conversant and comfortable he was on the subject, despite his thin record. Few detached observers came away with that impression watching the Arizona senator.
Much of the re-regulatory fever focuses on the Federal Reserve and any new agencies created to clean up the fiasco. Central, however, will be a more vigorous Securities and Exchange Commission, or whatever holds that investor-protection function.
McCain displayed a sudden interest in the SEC last week when he demanded that Chairman Chris Cox be fired. When his campaign was asked if the senator had ever criticized the current commission's performance before, they failed to respond.
All For Obama
Tellingly, three former SEC chairmen, a Democrat, Arthur Levitt, and two Republicans, David Ruder and Bill Donaldson, have endorsed Obama. Levitt is a board member of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.
Donaldson, who was tapped by Bush to head the SEC, says Obama called him last year about the financial-regulatory problems. He has never heard from McCain.
``Obama has been talking about the need for better financial regulation well before this crisis hit and has done some real thinking about it,'' says Donaldson, a lifelong Republican. ``McCain comes across as someone who suddenly realized changes have to be made.''

Four Wall Streeters To Endorse Obama

wsj: Three former chairmen of the Securities and Exchange Commission will publicly endorse Democratic Sen. Barack Obama's bid for the presidency Wednesday, including one who served under President Bush.

William Donaldson, who was SEC chairman for about 2½ years from early 2003, along with Clinton and Reagan appointees Arthur Levitt and David Ruder, will join former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker in endorsing Sen. Obama, his campaign said. Mr. Volcker endorsed Sen. Obama in January.

In a statement released by the campaign, the four men said they believed Sen. Obama would take a "reasoned approach" to "balanced regulatory reform." As with rival presidential candidates Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton, Mr. Obama has advocated revamping financial regulations to head off a repeat of the current credit crisis. Unlike the other two, Sen. Obama has said he would consider raising the capital-gains tax rate from its current 15% -- a move that could have a profound effect on the financial industry.

The endorsements, especially that of Republican appointee Mr. Donaldson, could give a boost to Mr. Obama in the general election this fall. Sen. Obama appears increasingly likely to be confirmed as the Democratic Party's nominee; Sen. McCain is the likely Republican choice.

Mr. Donaldson, a former Wall Street banker, also is a former head of the New York Stock Exchange. In government, Mr. Donaldson's tenure was marked by his push for greater regulation of hedge funds. The SEC eventually passed a hedge-fund-regulation package, in the face of vocal critics. A federal court later overturned the regulation.

In an interview Tuesday, Mr. Donaldson said he was struck by a speech Sen. Obama gave calling for a revamping of regulation for any business that borrows money from the government. Sen. Obama, he said, saw the "need to take a good hard look at how things are organized" and "just exactly what went wrong in terms of the regulatory oversight that we have."