Which Meltdown Will It Be?

John Podhoretz explores some of the different meltdown possibilities coming out of the mortgage crisis:

There are many meltdown possibilities here.

1) A Republican Party meltdown. The decision of House Republicans to stand in opposition to the Paulson plan, which appears to have grass-roots support, suggests there will be deep bitterness between those who feel they have no choice but to support the deal and those who think they are standing on ideological principle.

2) A John McCain meltdown. The high-stakes bet he made to attempt to broker a deal may fail along with the deal, which will raise possibly fatal questions about his leadership abilities.

3) An Obama meltdown. A deal is struck today with McCain involved, and Obama’s decision to stand on the sidelines will all but doom him.

4) A Barney Frank meltdown. If, as some reports have it, the Democratic congressman has structured his part of the deal to funnel money into a frankly Leftist “housing”group, and that aspect of the deal is part of what blows it up, Frank will find his agenda dangerously exposed.

5) A Bush meltdown. You think his popularity ratings are low now?

For all the Democrat complaints about recalcitrant Republicans, let's not forget that the Democrats in the House can pass any bill they want. And so far there doesn't seem to be much of a stomach in the Senate for a filibuster, which means the Senate Dems can pass whatever bill they want. They don't need Republican support to pass their version of the bailout bill if they think that's what's best for the country.

However, the Dems are petrified at the thought of passing their plan without significant Republican support. They clearly don't like the look of polls which suggest that Americans are not thrilled with the idea that Congress will just give away a trillion dollars to people who made bad loans, or people who took out loans that they couldn't or wouldn't repay. It's not a popular concept and the Dems don't want to get the "credit" for it.

Democrats like Barney Frank are still pushing their pipe dream of homeownership for all, regardless of qualifications, and stunts like Barney Frank's attempt to funnel money to leftist organizations will not fix this problem at all, but will set up the next bailout somewhere down the road.

Something's going to break. Let's hope it's not the economy.