The rejection of the financial rescue plan by the House on Monday of this week sent a clear message that congressional leaders were unable to sell the plan to the public. Underlying the hostile public reaction to the plan was a growing distrust of both Wall Street and the government’s leadership. A 10/1 New York Times story, Lessons from a Crisis: When Trust Vanishes, Worry, by David Leonhardt, explains that a breakdown in “informational capital” has caused this major national crisis, leading to new levels of fear and a vanishing of trust.

A recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll showed that just 10% of Americans have “a great deal” or “quite a bit” of confidence in the financial industry, compared with 36% who said so in 2000. The dot-com bust, Enron and other corporate scandals, and the current financial crisis have all contributed to this state of mistrust by the public.

According to a new AP poll, 8 in 10 Americans fear the crisis will affect them directly (yet 45% of all adults polled still opposed the proposed government bailout).

A 10/2 Wall Street Journal Opinion piece, “Bailing Out Ourselves,” states, “Americans are anxious, even frightened, about the financial system. They are looking for leaders who will act to defend it.”

Given the public’s rising mistrust of Wall Street and lack of faith in Capital Hill, it’s no wonder that people are infuriated and scared. People’s reaction is: “Why should we pay for the mistakes of both the government and private industry?” The public needs to be assured that such a financial crisis will not happen again, and that the people who were responsible won’t profit from it.

Yesterday, while calling for passage of the $700 billion rescue package on the U.S. Senate floor, Senator Obama affixed blame for the crisis on what he calls a philosophy of deregulation in Washington that took hold in the 1980s and has escalated under the Bush administration. He went on to say: “Make no mistake: We need to end an era in Washington where accountability has been absent, oversight has been overlooked and your tax dollars have been turned over to wealthy CEOs and well-connected corporations,” he said. “You need leadership that you can trust to work for you — not for the special interests who have had their thumb on the scale.”

Senator Obama also offered this message of hope: “During the great financial crisis of the last century, in his first fireside chat, FDR told his fellow Americans that there is an element in the readjustment of our financial system more important than currency, more important than gold, and that is the confidence of the people themselves,” Obama said. “Confidence and courage are the essentials of success in carrying out our plan.”