wbmw,
The problem was that the public did not support the vote - to a staggering count of 20 or 30 to 1. Politicians do not want their name assigned to a bill that is this unpopular. A better tactic to get it through would have been to make the details and reasons for the bill more public in the first place
I agree. The majority of Americans have no idea on how this will affect them directly. You have "Joe <burp> six pack" sitting on a couch saying, WTF? Unless you convince "Joe" that he will have to become sober in a few weeks due to this "credit crisis", he hates this "bailout" of the rich. Now, if the politicians and economic experts can not articulate this crisis and demonstrate how it affects "Joe", than perhaps "Joe" is right to begin with.
IMHO