The fairly uncontroversial argument that some regulations might have mitigated our current problems has been transformed, in the minds of many commentators, into a belief that the meltdown must therefore have been the result of deregulation, or of rapacious financiers deliberately crippling the regulatory apparatus. Hence the frequent invocation of that magic name, Glass-Steagall, which of course can summon the spirit of FDR to fix the economy if only the president is brave enough to speak it three times aloud.
Heck, I can call the spirit of FDR from the vasty deep. . . .
UPDATE: Related thoughts from Tim Worstall.