Wall Street Fight

President Barack Obama says its time for new rules of the road for Wall Street. The president says he wants to prevent future market meltdowns like the one that battered the U.S. economy. And if investors make bad gambles in the future, the president insists taxpayers should not be left holding the bag. After winning the bitter, year-long fight over health-care reform, taking on Wall Street seemed like a safe political move for President Obama. "And were going to put in place new rules so that big banks and financial institutions will pay for the bad decisions they make - not taxpayers," President Obama said. But with his approval numbers near an all-time low, Republicans are challenging his regulatory reform efforts, painting them as another power grab. In the Republican weekly address, Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia said, "The Democrats control every lever of power in Washington, and theyve never met a tax they didnt like or found a dollar they couldnt spend." Republicans are hoping to ride a wave of public frustration to a victory in this falls congressional elections. They are tuning their message to attract Tea Party members, who believe Washington is the problem. Tea Party demonstrators vented their anger with big government on Tax Day this week. And theyre hoping to draw even bigger crowds to the polls less than seven months from now. Meanwhile, President Obama is running out of time to make the changes he says this country needs, and to convince Americans why those changes are needed. Republicans say the president is opening the door to more bailouts - a claim the president blasted as cynical and deceptive.