'AIG Buck Stops With Me'

President Obama began a two-day swing through California yesterday, again accepting blame for the AIG mess and urging Washington to stop its finger-pointing, the Wall Street Journal reports. “Washington is in a tizzy and everybody is pointing fingers at each other and saying it's their fault, the Democrats' fault, the Republicans' fault,” he told a town hall meeting in Southern California. “Listen, I'll take responsibility. I'm the president.”

Obama, who earlier in the day said the “buck stops with me,” sounded an upbeat note in hard-hit Orange County. “We’re all in this together,” he told the crowd. “It's my job to fix these problems.” He’s pushing for greater regulatory power to give the feds more authority over institutions such as AIG. Obama plans another town hall meeting in Los Angeles today, followed by an appearance on Leno.
(More AIG stories.)