Commentary: Sam Donaldson Tells Congress to 'Suck It Up' and Approve Bailout
Sam Donaldson suggests Congress make tweaks to the fiscal plan and pass it fast.
Sept. 23, 2008 — -- The following is a commentary by ABC News' Sam Donaldson. Click here to view a video version of his latest essay.
No one likes this financial bailout package being negotiated on Capitol Hill. I don't like it. I don't like putting this huge amount of taxpayer money at risk with only a hope that someday the bad mortgages can be sold at a profit.
I don't like the idea that we would turn over to one man -- the secretary of the Treasury -- almost limitless authority to take the $700 billion and buy and sell those bad mortgages as he, alone, sees fit.
I certainly don't like the possibility that the "fast buck" artists on Wall Street and elsewhere who took advantage of the situation might make off with fat bonuses and golden parachutes.
Yes, I fully understand why legislators in both parties are outraged and why many of them say we should not rush into this but do it right, no matter how much time it takes.
But you know something, this reminds me of the story of the two hunters who, walking down the trail, suddenly saw a grizzly bear burst out of the woods and begin running full speed toward them.
Quick, said the first hunter, let's run through the brambles and escape.
No, no, said his friend, we will be scratched badly if we do that. Let's run down the slope and escape.
Terrible idea, said the first hunter, why we might slip and break a leg on the way down.
They went back and forth on which way to go -- why one of them even brought up the fact that he hadn't wanted to go hunting in the first place and it was his friend who had brought this danger on them. And, as they argued over all this, they were eaten by the bear.
No, please don't tell me how bad this bailout plan is -- I agree.
But, my advice to the good people in the administration and on Capitol Hill who are debating all this is, get on record as hating this plan, improve it around the edges quickly, then, "suck it up" and start running with it right now.
It sure beats getting eaten by the bear.
Sam Donaldson, a 41-year ABC News veteran, served two appointments as chief White House correspondent for ABC News, from 1977-1989 and from January 1998 to August 1999, covering Presidents Carter, Reagan and Clinton. Donaldson also co-anchored, with Diane Sawyer, "PrimeTime Live," from August 1989 until it merged with "20/20" in 1999. He co-anchored the ABC News Sunday morning broadcast, "This Week With Sam Donaldson & Cokie Roberts," from December 1996 to September 2002. Currently, Donaldson appears on ABC News Now, the ABC News digital network, in a daily show called "Politics Live."