Obama Doesn’t Understand SEC

Obama mocked McCain with this little missive.

Obama heaped criticism and sarcasm on John McCain, his Republican rival, and mocked his call to fire the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“I think that’s all fine and good but here’s what I think,” Obama said. “In the next 47 days you can fire the whole trickle-down, on-your-own, look-the-other way crowd in Washington who has led us down this disastrous path. Don’t just get rid of one guy. Get rid of this administration. Get rid of this philosophy. Get rid of the do-nothing approach to our economic problem and put somebody in there who’s going to fight for you.”

There’s a few little problems with Obama’s rant.  First of all, Obama is part of that Washington crowd.  And when McCain was calling for reform in 2005 and correctly predicting the financial crisis in which we find ourselves, Obama remained silent. 

Second, Obama can’t gut the SEC.  Here’s why:

The Securities and Exchange Commission has five Commissioners who are appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the Senate. Their terms last five years and are staggered so that one Commissioner’s term ends on June 5 of each year. To ensure that the Commission remains non-partisan, no more than three Commissioners may belong to the same political party. The President also designates one of the Commissioners as Chairman, the SEC’s top executive.

In other words, McCain is correct in that the President can sack the Chairman and appoint a new one.  But the President does not have any power to fire anyone off of the Commission.  In fact, the only body that could remove a Commissioner is… the Congress.  Also, look at the dates of appointment:

2005
2006
2008
2008
2008

The President can’t replace anyone on the Commission until 2010.  As far as the SEC is concerned, Obama’s notion that electing him would result in a brand new administration and bureaucracy, is completely wrong.