John McCain lost the Presidency yesterday because voters blamed his Republican Party, amongst other things, for the cash crisis.

Now that the election is all over, was that entirely fair?

Surely the blame for the crisis lies primarily with the greedy banks making obviously stupid loans. Yet there was also a failure of banking law that allowed them to make the loans.

Since the Republicans controlled Congress for most of the last eight years, they must indeed take some of the blame for that. Indeed, their new debt laws actually encouraged reckless lending.

However, they must share that blame with the Democrats, who have had majorities in both House and Senate for the last year and three quarters – throughout the period during which the problems became undeniable – but who did little to avert the crisis.

Yet someone else must also assume part of the responsibility – the people who borrowed the money. That means most of us – and most of the voters in the election.

No one forced us to take the money – but, of course, no politician can say that.

Fair? Since when did that matter in politics?