Obama's message to Wall Street and beyond
The most powerful politician in the world has not quite made it to the home of the most powerful financiers in the world to deliver his lecture.
President Obama's motorcade halted a few blocks short of Wall Street in the rather more bohemian East Village. The handful of protesters outside the barricades was accusing him of being in league with Goldman Sachs, of failing to break up the banks, of being too soft on the money men.
The president's plan faces a tough fight in the Senate and on the surface at least, he is appealing to Wall Street to join him, rather than back the bill's Republican opponents.
He's told them that a sound financial system for the 21st century needs tough new rules to prevent the "turmoil and devastation" of the financial crisis ever happening again.
They have nothing to fear unless they are bandits, rely on milking people, or want to take reckless risks.
So, he says, rather than spending millions on sending lobbyists to Washington to kill or cripple the proposed laws, they should be leaning on the politicians who want to stop them.
But the real message is intended not for the people in the room or those a few blocks away. It's for the satellite trucks outside and the viewers in the Midwest and the Deep South, people all over America who resent the power of Wall Street. His message is that it is he who is on their side, and not the Republicans.
I’m Mark Mardell, the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s North America editor. These are my reflections on American politics, some thoughts on being a Brit living in the USA, and who knows what else? My 
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