The NBC Nightly News kinda chickened out tonight when it came to the issue of whether viewers could handle watching what NBC's own Saturday Night Live stars --
past and present -- do in their spare time. Familiar comedians who have played U.S. presidents through the years gathered in a mock White House summit of sorts to convince President Barack Obama (Fred Armisen) to back the fledgling Consumer Financial Protection Act, which supposedly will prevent, for instance, credit card banks from gauging the hell out of customers who are already reeling from the recession. The skit, directed by Ron Howard, comes off a bit stale given the high expectations when so much talent merges in one room (from Jim Carey, the only non-SNL-er, as Ronald Reagan, to Dana Carvey and Will Ferrell as presidents George Bush, the elder and younger). It comes off sort of like one of those all-star jam sessions where nobody can hear the five amazing lead guitarists who were shoved on stage together. On the other hand, it's always difficult to mix comedy with weighty political issues, especially ones hard-wired in a specific legislative proposal.The campaign the skit draws attention to is by which makes a populist pitch: "Right now, we are ALL vulnerable to the big banks, CEOs and Wall Street institutions whose irresponsibility and risky behavior caused this economic crisis. Our vulnerability is being increased by the fact that when our government proposes an agency with sound measures to protect our interests, the arsonists are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into lobbying and advertising to prevent that protection from being implemented."The organization adds, "there is currently no federal organization regulating financial products at all. The seven - yes seven - government bodies that currently regulate the banking industry regulate the institutions. Not the products they rely on. The CFPA will consolidate regulations. This means it will eliminate waste, in time, resources and energy, from the bloated and redundant and loophole-riddled status quo of having seven different government agencies regulate the same sector. The CFPA will also simplify credit and lending industry regulations, for the consumer. By simplification, we mean creating standards, drastically reducing the fine print in contracts, and eliminating the possibility for tricks and traps."On the other side of all this, there are entrenched opponents -- mainly Republicans -- who fear the creation of a new set of federal regulations that will hamper businesses, in turn further damaging the economy. There are also many posts online in which columnists, pundits and ordinary folks express their confusion as to how the CFPA would benefit Americans.Like NBC Nightly News anchorman Brian Williams, we'll leave the partisan squabbling up to you, dear reader. But we won't withhold the star-studded video as we mention the issue in the same breath out of fear that that would seem like we're taking sides (we'll leave that to Brian, who actually suggested we leave our TVs and go online to his company's website to try to find the video). We've got the video, via FunnyOrDie.com, here. So check it out. Chime in below on whether we've got the review right: Is the video kinda funny/totally hilarious/or completely lame?
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