Which side is President Obama on?  That of the people, or of the wealthy plutocratic and corporate elite?

He's already shown that it is the latter.

Roger Bybee writes at In These Times: "The battle over regulation of Wall Street will settle at least one question, says Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.): “whether the Congress has the ability to regulate Wall Street or Wall Street continues to regulate the Congress.”

"With polls showing little belief in the administration’s willingness to stand up for the powerless, the Democrats could recoup sagging enthusiasm by promoting tough regulation of Wall Street, forcing a breakup of mega-banks and subjecting all risky instruments (“derivatives”) to full disclosure. But signs suggest that Obama’s inner circle has rejected this approach.

"Obama has been unwilling to take Wall Street head on. For example, he expressed reluctance to cap executive bonuses for fear of driving away top talent like Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Co. ($17 million bonus for 2009) and Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs ($9 million bonus). “First of all, I know both those guys,” Obama told Business Week in February. “And I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That’s part of the free market system.”

"Democrats in Congress may wish to consider the possibility that Obama and Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel are asking them to risk their electoral fates in November by supporting a symbolic but loophole-laden bill that the public may come to regard as far too weak, in order to maintain the long-term financial backing of Wall Street.

"A number of respected financial experts, however, also worry that the Democrats will pull their punches, calculating that modest reform is all that’s needed to deflate the public furor. University of Maryland law professor Michael Greenberger, a former federal regulator who battled the crucial deregulation measures advocated by Lawrence Summers and enacted during the Clinton era, has warned that the Obama administration does not support efforts to reform the shadow banking system of derivative dealing. “Reformers have to fight the Obama administration as much as they do Wall Street,” he said in an address to the Roosevelt Institute. “Franklin Delano Roosevelt must be rolling over in his grave.”