Economic Credibility Gap: Obama Says People Are Angry About AIG, Axelrod Says No One Cares

by: David Sirota

Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 13:35

I'm genuinely confused. Yesterday, White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel told America he sees the use of taxpayer money to pay AIG million-dollar bonuses as an unimportant distraction. Then President Obama said, no, the country is angry, and has every right to be, and his assertion was supported by new polls showing an outraged American public. Now today, White House adviser David Axelrod insists nobody cares about AIG ripping off taxpayers. "People are not sitting around their kitchen tables thinking about AIG," he told the Washington Post.

Look, I get that nobody in Establishment Washington genuinely cares that taxpayers are being ripped off, and I get that the super-wealthy political class from millionaire investment banker Emanuel to millionaire consultant Axelrod to millionaire banker Tim Geithner gives much of a shit that our taxpayer dollars are being used to make new millionaires on Wall Street. But their boss, President Obama, is right: A huge majority of Americans, most of whom are not millionaires, are really angry and has a right to be angry. And we're not talking sorta angry, we're talking about Gallup's new poll showing a whopping 84% of Americans saying they are "outraged" or "bothered" by the AIG mess.

The only question, then, is why the president is letting his aides contradict him and disparage the majority of the country?

These latest mixed messages are yet another indication that a the White House is creating a major economic credibility gap for itself. On the biggest economic issues of the day, the administration is saying contradictory things, raising questions about who is really in charge in the administration.

If the White House doesn't get out of the tone deaf D.C. echo chamber and get back on message, my bet is that very soon Republicans' faux populism that portrays Democrats as part of the problem is going to start getting traction.

David Sirota :: Economic Credibility Gap: Obama Says People Are Angry About AIG, Axelrod Says No One Cares

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Economic Credibility Gap: Obama Says People Are Angry About AIG, Axelrod Says No One Cares | 6 comments

Post corrected. (0.00 / 0)

very soon Republicans' faux populism that portrays ~~Democrats as part of the problem~~ Republicans as part of the solution is going to start getting traction.

The Democrats are part of the problem. Nothing faux about that.

by: space @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 12:40:11 PM CDT

Agree totally (0.00 / 0)

There is something very Weimaresque about all this, with Obama playing the role of Hindenberg.

The "responsible" center cannot hold. Obama needs to realize this, and show that he does by firing Geithner and Summers.

by: John Halle @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 12:41:32 PM CDT

this is what emanuel and axelrod are all about: managing public opinion (0.00 / 0)

rather than representing it.

And they'll fight very, very hard trying to marginalize us, telling us what we think is important despite the exact opposite and trying to cloud the clarity ... and the opportunity for unity of the citizenry this matter offers (almost every citizen of all political ilks is outraged about this) ... that this provides to these corrupt relationships between the wall street interests and their government. emanuel and axelrod will fight tooth and nail (especially scumbag traitor emanuel, do you think that he wants some light shined on the nexus between wall street and the government with all the money that he made in such a short time on wall street once he left the clinton administration?) becoz they are afraid that if we get our way and get these enemies to a representative government, geithner and summers, removed from obama's administration, then we will always want our way ... and think that we can get it. Essentially, we will expect a government that represents us rather than one in which we just have to be happy with whatever they decide we get. That's the clarity of it all.

That's how they think and that tells you a lot about them ... especially emanuel who is a HUGE barrier between us and representative government ... they don't want the government to respond to the people, they want it to work for them and their immoral friends. So, that's why they do not want the government to "give us our way" ... becoz then we will always expect the government to actually represent and respond to us ... like a representative government is supposed to ... and not settle for whatever crumbs of representation these scumbag powerbrokers drop from their table.

by: Z @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 13:07:22 PM CDT

not inherently a contradiction (0.00 / 0)

Yes, people are mad about the AIG bonuses when they hear about them.

But then they return to worrying about whether they'll have a job next week and the AIG bonuses fade from their active concerns.

Compared to the full sums of money that have been thrown into the AIG money bon-fire, the bonuses are also a relatively unimportant distraction. We should be focusing on what the f happened on both AIG and the Government's end that got us stuck in this shitty mess. Stop the bonuses...blah...what about the 150 or 200 billion that's been burned to prop AIG up? Why haven't we heard about CRIMINAL investigations into AIG. Into Bank of America. Into Merrill Lynch. Into Citi. Into WaMu. Into Countrywide. You want some f'ing outrage, I'm f-ing outraged that people aren't being led away in f-ing handcuffs. I'm annoyed that AIG's leadership was some bombastically stupid that it thought it could pull this bonus bull off. But outrage? F that. I'll reserve my outrage for the f'ing DoJ and the f'ing FBI and the f'ing department of Treasury for not dealing with this situation in a manner that is anywhere near adequate. These shitbags who run AIG and BoA and Citi and Chase and whoever else need to be on the streets, not sitting in their cushy f'ing offices. And many of these shitbags should be under criminal investigation.

The bonuses ARE just a distraction. Whats 170 million compared to a trillion+ that's been thrown at these f-ers between the TARP and the Fed?

170 million is just evidence that the people who run AIG are very stupid f'ing people.

I want some f'ing indictments and I want to know I'll have a job next week. I'll worry about some asshole getting a million or two million dollar bonus later.

I want some convictions. I want these assholes being led away in f'ing chains. Bernie Madoff? F that. He "only" lost $50 billion. I want these AIG M' F'ers in prison.

ok, somebody needs to take a chill pill. deep breath.

by: Jerry 101 @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 13:45:44 PM CDT

Who are Axelrod's clients? (0.00 / 0)

Is he on retainer from one of the TARP recipients?

by: AliceDem @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 15:05:57 PM CDT

So much for the heady days of "Yes, We Can…." (0.00 / 0)

Call your Reps in Congress (and encourage others as well), to pressure President Obama to release Timothy Geithner of his Treasury duties.

Noticed President Obama could only express his "angry" with the use of a teleprompter.

My anger is directed at the POTUS, not at the banks; because the banking industry could NOT do a wholesale rip-off of American tax-payer without the help of their bend-over buddies in Congress and the White House. TARP was sold to us as a way to help stabilize and promote the unfreezing of credit. Obviously, TARP was more about using the taxpayers' money to save the investment banks from their gambling habits. Not only that, but the double-dipping that's going on with these banks (getting paid twice by the TARP funding) should really outrage people.

The phony Liberal at the top of the ticket wants the rest of us to think he brought a new kind of politics to Washington. President Obama seems to be revealing himself more like the spineless Messiah from Chicago, with the wealthy class owning him by the you-know-whats.

by: mariann @ Thu Mar 19, 2009 at 15:36:23 PM CDT