Are Democrats, under Obama, Still Beholden To Corps?

One Republican spoke tonight at the Democratic National Convention.  It was Jim Leach.  One nice thing about Jim Leach is that he was one of the six Republicans to vote against the Iraq War, and one of the six Republicans to vote against the rule on the Hunter amendment to embarass the Democrats.  For this, the centrist Iowa Republican Representative gets my respect. 

But Leach was also co-author of Gramm-Leach-Bliley.  One of the worst parts of the Great Depression was the way the problems with investment banking (shuffling paper and money) spread into the consumer banking market.  One of Glass Steagal's most basic rules insures that if some 28 year old in Indonesia loses 80 zillion dollars it won't prevent you from taking your money out of your bank.  For a 5 page article on this see The Triumph of the Suits from the Financial Markets Center.

Phil Gramm, one of the other authors of the bill, was formerly McCain's campaign chairman and chief economic advisor" as recently as six weeks ago.