There are barely enough index fingers in the nation to point to all the people who own at least a small part of the mess that threatens to upheave the nation's financial structure.

And yet the fingers are all pointing at Wall Street as if that hub of the nation's banking and investment sectors must right itself without public intervention.

That old expression about cutting off your nose to spite your face comes to mind.

The failure by U.S. House lawmakers to pass H.R. 3997, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, caused a convulsion in the stock market, which posted its largest point-drop in a single day.

Hawai'i's House members, Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Mazie Hirono, were among the 95 Democrats who contributed to the bill's defeat.

House leadership should have done more to persuade members, without partisan rhetoric, that a rescue was in order. As for the naysayers, none offered a reasonable substitute for the $700 billion package, beyond vague complaints that mortgage holders and taxpayers are not adequately protected.

As painful as this may be to admit, some of these homebuyers played a part in the undermining of the mortgage-lending marketplace. So did the executives of firms that risked far too much in the trading of mortgage-backed securities, given the wobbly foundation of sub-prime loans.

And so did the administration and Washington lawmakers, who were warned but turned a blind eye to the impending crisis.

In a prepared statement, Abercrombie cited overwhelming opposition to the plan from constituents.

"Nearly 1,500 people called, faxed or emailed my offices in Honolulu and Washington, D.C.," he said. "Eleven of those expressed support for the bailout plan.

The bill, he added, "relied on public funds to save Wall Street from its own greed and bad decisions, with very little in the way of accountability or oversight."

"This crisis was brought on by inadequate regulatory oversight or no oversight at all over these complicated mortgage-backed securities," Hirono agreed. "We need to fast track regulatory reform to prevent this kind of crisis from recurring."

Yes, fine, the greed of the fat cats certainly threw fuel on the fire. But the desire to punish Wall Street for "bad decisions" is an insufficient basis for opposing a plan — with no alternative solution — that has the long-term interests of the consumer at heart. This includes consumers and businesses in Hawai'i, who already feel the strain of credit tightening radically. Nobody knows how perilously close the financial markets are to the point when credit seizes up altogether.

There's time to talk about regulatory reform once the bleeding has been stanched.

This is an extraordinary development, requiring extraordinary political courage to deliver the bitter pill. Certainly this is one of those times Congress must swallow hard and make decisions based on criteria other than a popular vote.

Congress must delay no further in adopting a rescue plan, imperfect though it might be.

And the time is now for presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama to develop a blueprint for moving America beyond this crisis. The failure of leadership cannot be permitted to continue, once one or the other takes the helm. The stakes have never been higher.