Can't Blame Bush for this one.

Why? There’s no simple, satisfactory answer. But in recent weeks, memoirs by crisis insiders such as former Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chairman Sheila Bair have shed new light on the financial crisis. Interviews with officials like former senator Ted Kaufman lend further color to the crystallizing narrative. The Obama Justice Department was too timid and short-staffed to hunt down the bad guys. The White House, Treasury Department, and Federal Reserve stifled or sold out real financial reform, leaving megabanks too big to fail, and dangerous crisis-era practices untouched. Months after taking office, Obama told the CEOs of the nation’s third biggest banks, “My administration is the only thing standing between you and the pitchforks.” It has served as an effective shield.