The American Financial Crisis: A Tale from Two Senators

A week has passed since America, and in turn the World, found themselves dealing with a major financial crisis. There is plenty of blame to go around, but now is not the time to point fingers. Unfortunately, there are some in Washington that are well aware of where the responsibility rest, and like a magician on a stage, they have spent the last week pulling pigeons from the sleeves , instead of rolling up those sleeves and working with their peers to resolve this matter.

Throughout this crisis neither McCain or Obama, nor their respective parties on a whole, handled themselves well. Cooler heads should always prevail in these types of situations, and to react just for the sake of reacting is ineffective. Kimberly Strassel , in the Wall Street Journal, was spot on when she stated in a recent article that "Voters are intelligent enough to have a serious financial story explained to them, yet Mr. McCain blames Wall Street." To be fair, it seemed like everyone and their mother was blaming Wall Street, not just McCain.

We must move in a timely, but cautious manner, but above all our representatives must be prepared to put aside partisan philosophies, and work together for the good of every one. We as American's should look to those leaders that are proactively working to get to the bottom of this issue, and we should chastise those that are only looking at covering their butts or trying to make others look bad for political gain.

This brings me to Senator Judd Gregg, R-NH, and Senator Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio. Both appeared on the floor of the Senate on September 24, to speak on this crisis, but they could not be further apart on their message.

Senator Gregg used his time to explain the crisis and the key points to possible solutions that most Senator's agree on. Senator Gregg's speech was non-partisan, and exactly what "We the People" need to hear from our leaders. Senator Gregg took the higher road suggested by Ms. Strassel.

Senator Brown chose to present a partisan speech blaming President Bush and the Republican majority (?..huh) for the financial crisis. Aside form the fact that Senator Brown's statements were false, he demonstrated the type of pettiness that is useless and counterproductive. Senator Brown could learn a great deal from his colleague Senator Gregg. Senator Gregg is prepared to provide leadership, where Senator Brown is only willing to offer "business as usual."