In part, you are correct, the 2008 crisis was predicated upon bad paper sold by fannie and freddie but it was not the entire problem. Some paper never made it through them.
The too big to fail label was put on more than just the banks: AIG, GE, GM and a host of other corps due to their wild lending practices joined the fray...AIG as they bet against a collapse with their Credit Default Swaps accepting unlimited liability with little equity.
I do not think this is a bush verses clinton verses Bush problem, it is one of wall street influence, money, upon our allegedly pure government system. Doing away with the separation of banking from investment banking was the last straw. Fueled by greed, the band played on while the Greenspans, Geitners and Bernakes sat around with their fingers up their respective backsides.
Agreed.
I'm sure they(and others)benefited with a few "backdoor sliders".