During the run-up to the 2008 presidential election, Barack Obama was big finance’s favorite candidate by a long shot. Perhaps hoping to put a more Bill Clinton-esque Democrat in the White House (didn’t exactly work out that way, did it?), Wall Street poured money into the Democrats’ fundraising machines:

Despite his rhetorical attacks on Wall Street, a study by the Sunlight Foundation’s Influence Project shows that President Barack Obama has received more money from Wall Street than any other politician over the past 20 years, including former President George W. Bush.

In 2008, Wall Street’s largesse accounted for 20 percent of Obama’s total take, according to Reuters. …

Fleischer continued by saying that President Obama and Democrats, such as New York Sen. Charles Schumer, who has received approximately $8.7 million from Wall Street since 1989, should stop taking campaign donations from Wall Street banks if they are so offended by their actions. …

By the end of Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, executives and others connected with Wall Street firms, such as Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, UBS AG, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley, poured nearly $15.8 million into his coffers.

But, for some strange reason, it seems that the financial sector is less than pleased with the uncertainty, rampant over-regulation, convoluted taxes, bureaucratic red tape, and punishing big-business rhetoric coming out of the Obama administration on the regular. Here’s just the latest evidence that they’re loyalties are switching to the Republicans‘ side in droves:

Employees of Goldman Sachs gave at least $902,000 during the past three months to Romney Victory, a joint-fundraising account for the GOP nominee-in-waiting and the Republican National Committee, filings released late Sunday show. Donors who work for Bain Capital LLC, the private equity firm Mr. Romney helped found, or Bain & Co., the consulting firm associated with it, chipped in $981,000.

Meantime, those associated with the hedge fund Elliott Management, gave at least $785,000. Paul Singer, a key Romney fund-raiser and mega-donor to a super PAC supporting him, founded Elliott. Employees of the Blackstone Group, another private equity firm, gave some $500,000. …

All told, donors who work for a company with the word “capital” in its name donated more than $8.4 million to Romney Victory through June 30. …

The numbers also offer the latest illustration of Mr. Romney’s deep ties to the financial sector. Those connections have allowed him to tap a deep fund-raising well that has cooled to President Barack Obama. Goldman Sachs employees, for instance, have given just $265,000 to Mr. Obama and his party’s victory fund this election, an analysis of federal records shows.

And of course, Democrats are already on the scene with their outrageous outrage — forget the fact that the Obama camp is still taking the Wall Street donations they can get (and as we all know, Obama is a total stranger to thousands-of-dollars-per-plate fundraisers, right?) Is it just me, or does it seem like they’re only very vocal about their qualms with big money when they’re no longer the main recipient?

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) says a group of “angry old white men” is bankrolling conservative outside groups that are spending millions to influence the fall elections.

“If this flood of outside money continues, the day after the election, 17 angry old white men will wake up and realize they’ve just bought the country,” Reid said on the floor. “That’s a sad commentary. About 60 percent or more of these outside groups’ dollars are coming from these 17 people. These donors have something in common with their nominee. Like Mitt Romney, they believe they play by their own set of rules.”