Frank Rich writes about the federal government's -- and particularly this Administration's -- complicity in the economic crisis: "Since Obama has neither aggressively pursued the crash’s con men nor compellingly explained how they gamed the system, he sometimes looks as if he’s fronting for the industry even if he’s not." (See more in The Commentariat above.)

Since the Times moderators again axed my comment again, here it is:

Frank's recitation of the Obama Administration's love affair with Wall Street is a huge part of the Democrats' "enthusiasm gap." We expected more than rhetoric. We expected more than a Swiss-cheese financial "regulatory" law finessed by the banks' best friend in the Senate, Chris Dodd. (Gosh, wonder what Dodd will do when he "retires" in January?) And we expected more than that goofy Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. I like Elizabeth Warren, but that little bureau the Republicans don't want her to head up is as big a joke as the Dodd-Frank law. Besides, regulations are only as good as the regulators, and there's every reason to think that the powers-that-be don't want hard-nosed regulators.

When Democrats like me rail against the fools in the tea party who want to bring in Republicans who will fall over for richy-rich Americans and candidates who want to dismantle the government's social assistance networks, we do so knowing we have a dirty little secret. That secret is that we're just as angry as the tea partiers. But, unlike the tea party gang, we don't have a target to aim at. We voted for the guy who won, and he's still the best deal there is. The best deal the American people can get is a bad deal. That fairly xenophobic ad produced by a conservative group that projects the Chinese gleefully taking over the U.S. by 2030 is creepy, but who doesn't have a sneaking suspicion that it may contain an underlying truth? That truth is that our elected leaders, Democratic & Republican, are selling us out.

Here's the spot, which I posted earlier:

We know the Republicans are selling us out, because they say so. The ones who don't admit they want to dismantle Social Security for instance, have renamed "privitization." Now, they're calling it "allowing citizens the option of opening private accounts." Here's Jim Huffman, Oregon's Republican nominee for Senate:

Ah, that's much better. All Republicans promise to repeal the healthcare law, which already is a boondoggle for the health insurance industry & Big Pharma. All of the Republican Senate candidates except one say that climate change is either a "hoax" or, if they're "moderate," it's "unproved science." Look, look, scientists don't present "proofs"; they present "hypotheses." They're just guessing!

And the Democrats? Jack Conway promises to "fix" the healthcare law. He says he's more of a "Clinton Democrat" than an "Obama Democrat." What does that mean? More of a white guy? Joe Manchin is using the climate change bill for target practice.

With the exception of a few brave Congressmembers like Russ Feingold & Tom Perriello, both of whom are in danger of losing their seats, Democrats are running away from their slim accomplishments. Some are bragging about how often then vote with John Boehner. John Boehner!

So, yeah, I get where the tea partiers are coming from. I share their rage. But I remember this:

When I was a teenager, my liberals ideas were so "far out" that my best friend thought I should get psychological help. But, like so many men & women of my generation, I kept pushing. Now, almost all of those things we were pushing for are the law. My old friend probably wouldn't remember that she thought I needed medical attention because I said the schools should be racially integrated.

So I keep pushing. Maybe the next president will be somebody like Sherrod Brown or Russ Feingold or Sheldon Whitehouse. And maybe, just maybe, he or she will be a little less likely to tout the "smart businessmen" on Wall Street. Maybe the next president will put the middle class & the poor first.