President Obama's speech resonated very clearly. It has been fairly well documented in the Post how Bush administration regulators had been asleep at the switch when it came to the oversight of the mortgage industry and finance. Eliot Spitzer wrote last year in fairly great detail of the involvement of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) in the subprime mortgage meltdown. Essentially what Spitzer had stated was that the Bush controlled OCC had rolled back predatory lending laws which allowed states to enforce consumer protection against national banks.

The bottom line is that there is fine line between what is good for business and what is good for the the citizen. With unregulated, unrestrained free market capitalism we have witnessed the evisceration of the middle class with the outsourcing of our manufacturing base to Asia, and the outsourcing of many of our service and trades jobs to lower paid immigrant workers (many of which are undocumented no doubt). At the same time, we've seen the increase of executive pay rising exponentially.

As far as his statement about "doing business in the light of day", that also rings true. I just wonder why the in formation regarding meetings between Vice President Cheney and the energy executives has to date been classified. Unless Government (and business) is forced to operate with transparency, there is too much opportunity for corruption and misuse of power.

Everything said in the excerpt is good and true.

It is an unfortunate reminder of just how far we have fallen from our Constitutional ideals that Mr. Obama must state these things.

Of course sunshine is the best disinfectant, and if all we are about is prospering the wealthy and damn the rest, then we have no claim to being a civil and advanced society.

Of course I agree. How obvious can something be?

The President's words are clear. The question is whether or not he means it. In the course of appeals against the Departments of Agriculture and Interior, I have accumulated recorded testimony, sworn statements, and other documents demonstrating conclusively that civil servants have tried to misapproptiate $20,000 to pay a bribe in order to rig the outcome of a civil service selection, committed perjury numerous times, committed obstruction of justice by concealing or altering documents submitted to various boards, and wasted large amounts of money on cosmetic projects that they knew would not be successful. The Department of the Interior has been appointing many persons without suitable education or experience to act as scientists, who make sure that the results of scientific studies do not interfere with political decisions. For all of these felonies, one Forest Service employee was suspended for one week without pay and another received a letter of reprimand. The FBI has refused to investigate several times because of its "priorities." Several perpetrators of these crimes have been promoted. I have had four appeals before the Merit System Protection Board, and I challenge anyone to find a jury of ordinary citizens who would examine all of the evidence and not conclude that in all four cases, the administrative judge committed fraud in order to decide in favor of the corrupt agencies.

In the words of that great document " We hold these truths to be self-evident.
TRUELY GREAT !!!

The republicans of the past have a lot to be held accountable for. AND THEY SHOULD BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE !!!
As a youth, I found out just how they use fear and false patriotism to get votes. We Americans with good life styles can easily be decieved by them.

This was a very good article. But, I am so not seeing that the national media and the general population over-all is going after these people.
1. They have held this country captive with fear and unlawful acts for 8 years. 2. They have surcomvented the Constitution of this great country; so many times, it's amazing how they got away with it " As They Were Doing It.".
3. They made it absolutely impossible for our troups to get Bin Laden by not letting them do it in a professional way ( see 60 Minutes; How Bin Laden got away.) and last but not least 4. They knew they were not going to win the White House again so they used the "SCORTCHED EARTH ' approach to handing over the government to the next administration. THESE PEOPLE HAVE SHOWN OVER THE LAST 38 YEARS THAT -- THEY ARE TRAITORS TO THE CONSTITUTION AND IT'S INTENTION.
I realize that we are in a precarious position for a civil war, but that doesn't mean that these " Republican Leaders of the past " should get away with it either. Their should be investigations at least for the sake of Historical truth. Anyone that votes with this party is naive to say the least . This party should be disbanded and a more truthful party should emerge. These people will be remembered in history for their disgresions.
GOD BLESS AMERICA.

Hoping and praying the Obama administration will be truly transparent. When asked about revoking some of his campaign flip flops, Obama is reported to have said: "Oh, that was just campaign rhetoric." Where does his rhetoric end and truth begin? One needs to use Diogenes' lamp when trusting politicians--most seem to have an Achilles' heel in my view.

I did not, nor would not, vote for Obama. I am a Libertarian. That said, I have been pleasantly surprised with him so far. I'm beginning to think maybe he has a clue, and I pray to God that is correct. If he will fathfully adhere to the Constitution and Bill of Rights he can be the best President this country ever had. My prayers are with him.

And BTW, it's been a lot longer than 38 years. Lincoln was tearing down this Republic a long, long time ago.