No doubt some members of Congress who applauded one comment by President Barack Obama Tuesday night did so reluctantly. But the president was absolutely right.
At one point in his State of the Union speech, Obama asked lawmakers to "send me a bill that bans insider trading by members of Congress. ..."
He referred to a longstanding ethics problem, that of members of Congress buying or selling stock because they have advance knowledge of how companies will be affected by legislation. In fact, there is the possibility some votes on bills are affected by lawmakers' desire to make killings in the market.
Obama is right: Such conflicts of interest should be eliminated - now.
