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| Home Front Economy |
| Bracing for a Bailout Backlash |
| 2009-03-16 |
| Wherein the NYT explains that The Lightbringer is really out ahead of all this. The Obama administration is increasingly concerned about a populist backlash against banks and Wall Street, worried that anger at financial institutions could also end up being directed at Congress and the White House and could complicate President Obama’s agenda. Oh come on. Did Lenin let a few unruly kulaks complicate his agenda? The administration’s sharp rebuke of the American International Group on Sunday for handing out $165 million in executive bonuses marks the latest effort by the White House to distance itself from abuses that could feed potentially disruptive public anger. A "sharp rebuke"? Is that like putting AIG on double-secret probation? “We’ve got enormous problems that need to be addressed,” David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, said in an interview. “And it’s hard to address because there’s a lot of anger about the irresponsibility that led us to this point.” The whole Obama campaign Axelrod orchestrated was about stoking public anger. The law of unintended consequences is a bitch. “This has been welling up for a long time,” he said. Translation: We intend to Blame Bush. Mr. Obama’s aides said any surge of such a sentiment could complicate efforts to win Congressional approval for the additional bailout packages that Mr. Obama has signaled will be necessary to stabilize the banking system. A crowd of voters with pitchforks tends to have that effect. Beyond that, a shifting political mood challenges Mr. Obama’s political skills, as he seeks to acknowledge the anger without becoming a target of it. A central question for Mr. Obama is whether his cool style — “in a time of crisis, we cannot afford to govern out of anger,” he said in his address to Congress last month — will prove effective when the country may be feeling more emotional. "Quit reading soundbites off the goddamn teleprompters!" “Never underestimate the capacity of angry populism in times of economic stress,” said Robert Reich, a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and labor secretary under President Bill Clinton. “A big challenge for President Obama will be to maintain a rational and tactical public discussion in the midst of this severe downturn. The desire for culprits at times like this is strong.” |
| Posted by:Matt |
| #6 |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-03-16 21:29 |
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| Posted by: Matt 2009-03-16 15:17 |
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| Posted by: DarthVader 2009-03-16 10:13 |
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| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-03-16 08:26 |
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| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-03-16 08:21 |
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| Posted by: Shipman 2009-03-16 07:58 |