I really surprised myself in writing the last post on Obama and the lost opportunity. I resolved when I started writing a blog that I would avoid discussing politicians. My feeling in general about politicians is that it's virtually impossible to know what they really believe in. They say the politically expedient, or read from a script. My best recollection of a truth coming from a politician was the incredible interview conducted with an exhausted George H.W. Bush aboard Air Force One during his failed re-election campaign. The reporter (the pox on me that I cannot remember his name) asked Bush what he would do if his daughter had been impregnated as a result of a rape. The pro life candidate answered that he would have obviously arranged for an abortion. His answer did not surprise me as I had some inkling of his sensibilities. That he answered honestly almost knocked me over. That's when I started turning off the volume when a politician would speak. I figured I had at least an equal chance to understand what they were about by watching body movements than by actually listening to them.
So why revisit Obama? Because now that he has lost his chance to get his health care bill passed, he is starting to discuss regulating the banks. It irritates Street Sense (admittedly it wouldn't if we thought he read our blog and changed directions because of our post!) that it took a punch from the electorate to do what he should obviously have done right from the beginning. Take on the banks and take back the country.
Next, get the companies that gave AAA ratings to those bundled mortgages. Frisk the AIG executives. Look closely at Bernanke and Geithner. Round up Paulson and all the usual suspects. Make the banks feel the pain as much as the consumer has.
But damn it all Barack, why didn't you do this right off the bat? This sudden shift tells me that you were not confused or paralyzed by the situation as I thought you might have been. The timing of your shift is all political.
President Obama, this is going to be TOUGH work. This is taking on the economic royalty in the country. They will not be overthrown without a fight. You will have a real battle on your hands, and it will take alot more than political expediency as motivation to wage this war. It will be you or them. This is the real reason that you were elected. Go get em!
I'd like to be able to turn the volume back up when you speak.
