Dems Get Mojo Back: Here Comes Financial Reform

Health care has given the White House and Democrats a serious dose of momentum, and it looks as though that will result in easy passage of a stronger-than-expected financial reform bill. Republicans are backing off, and Democrats are sticking together to fend off Wall Street lobbyists who assumed they could weaken the bill, writes Norm Scheiber. President Obama, meanwhile, is pressing Chris Dodd and Barney Frank "not to dither."

"Pretty much no one who follows the regulatory reform issue can quite believe the sudden change," writes Scheiber for the New Republic. "In the span of a few days, reform has evolved from one of those debates newspaper editorialists have among themselves to Washington’s next big push." (More Timothy Geithner stories.)