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The Wall Street Journal reports today that local auto dealerships are trying to put the brakes on provisions in the Obama-Dodd Wall Street bill that would drive up the cost of auto financing and force them to comply with more cumbersome regulations. After Obama already decimated local auto dealers last year in order to bail out GM and Chrysler, the industry fears that the regulations he wants now could be a deathblow to businesses that are an integral part of the health of Main Streets in towns big and small across the country.

"It's dangerous and it's aiming at the wrong people," said Ed Tonkin, chairman of the National Automobile Dealers Association. "It's using a sledgehammer to go after a gnat, and we're not that gnat." . . . Auto dealers say they simply are connecting the car buyer with another firm, such as a bank or finance company, and those lending the money should be subject to federal regulation. The dealers also argue they didn't cause the financial crisis and shouldn't be swept up in legislation primarily designed to take on large banks that pose a systemic risk to the economy.

If the Democrats are trying to reform Wall Street, why do we keep hearing from Main Street that they’re getting slammed by the President’s plan? It seems that in the midst of a recession, Obama just can’t help himself from continuing to heap the crushing weight of government on an already struggling industry.