He said he wanted to be a transformative president and he’s already accomplished that with his health care bill. The Wall Street reforms (which passed on July 15th with the bare minimum of votes) are icing on the cake. But this is like doody on the cake.
Obama will sign the bill at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, the White House said.
The Ronald Reagan building is dedicated to international trade, and it’s the second biggest federal building (after the Pentagon) and the most expensive to construct. The symbolism of signing the Wall Street reforms bill there is wrong on many levels. While other presidents share blame for the economic collapse, no one is more responsible than the man that got ball rolling, Ronald Reagan. And while there is nothing wrong with international trade, the focus of these reforms should be on fixing our domestic economy (Main Street) by reining in our international economy (Wall Street). We want the public comparing these reforms to the reforms of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, not the deregulation of Ronald Reagan.
Roosevelt did not want buildings and monuments named after him, and there are precious few tributes to him in our capital. The modest FDR memorial is basically all we have, and it isn’t the best forum for a presidential signing ceremony. But almost anyplace would be better than the Ronald Reagan building.
I don’t understand the purpose of doing the signing there, but whatever the reasoning, I disagree with it. It’s dumb.
