Hawaiian Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Tells Obama: We Need Glass-Steagall Now!

Asked to respond to Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, Hawaii’s Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard delivered a very straightforward message:

After indicating that she agreed with Obama’s call to build the 21st century infrastructure that the U.S. needed, she added, according to Khon2.com, that “America also needs true Wall Street reform which begins with reinstating Glass-Steagall. The financial stability of our nation depends on serious efforts to prevent Wall Street from making risky investments at taxpayer expense. The focus must always be on the needs of Main Street; we must prevent Wall Street from gambling with the wellbeing of our nation.”

Gabbard, who is a veteran, also commented on Obama’s request for authorization to use military force against ISIS. Expressing the concern felt by many veterans and military professionals, she said that the Administration

“still has not accurately identified our enemy; nor have they clearly articulated what the strategy will be to defeat this enemy.” A reality of war, she added, is that “if you don’t know and understand your enemy, you cannot defeat them.”

From other quarters, the growing support for reinstating Glass-Steagall is reflected in a new poll conducted by GBA Strategies for the Progressive Change Institute that showed a plurality of support for re-establishing Glass-Steagall, The Hill reported today. The same poll found that neither Republicans nor Democrats are fond of Wall Street, and were likely to support measures to crack down on the financial sector than oppose them, by breaking up the Too Big To Fail banks, for example.