Barack Obama came to office as an untested one term senator and a one term state senator. He had no legislative accomplishments to his name and no executive experience. So it was natural that we would question whether he was tough enough for the top job in Washington.
His first priority after assuming office has been handling the banking crisis and the economy. In this arena, he had his artillery tubes trained on the villains he deemed responsible for the mess—the bankers. He immediately went after the highly paid executives of financial institutions, capping their pay, and in the case of AIG, threatened to “pursue every legal avenue to block [these] bonuses and make the American taxpayer whole.” At one point in addressing AIG, Obama lost his voice and commented, “excuse me, I’m choked up with anger here.” His treasury department let it be known that as part of the regulatory overhaul, they will be focused regulating and limiting executive pay in financial institutions, and hinted that regulation of executive pay might not end there.
Having put the financial executives in their place, Obama next focused on the auto industry, and in a stunning exercise of government power, pressured GM CEO Rick Wagoner to resign. I don’t know whether Wagoner was performing well or not under the circumstances, but it seems to be somewhat heavy-handed for the government to meddle in corporate governance in a for-profit enterprise. Immediately after Wagoner’s ouster, Tim Geithner then let it be known that he would not hesitate to pressure a bank CEO to resign.
Team Obama has no qualms about pushing around corporate CEOs. In addition to their shareholders and boards of directors, corporate leaders now need to worry that their performance will be assessed by the bureaucrats in Washington and that they will be unceremoniously shoved over a cliff. And if you happen to run a large financial institution, you now have your pay limited and you effectively serve at the pleasure of the Secretary of the Treasury. I thought they did this kind of thing only in the old U.S.S.R. This is real hardball. By strong-arming them, firing them, and taxing them, Team Obama has shown that it can and will play tough with the “recklessness and greed” in the corner suite.
Unfortunately, the tough talk and tough action seems to run out of gas when we’re talking about the murderous thugs overseas that have threatened us and our allies. The steely gaze averts when confronting dictatorial thugs bent on acquiring the means to inflict mass murder. Both Iran and North Korea have cavalierly ignored multiple UN resolutions with respect to their nuclear programs and have essentially dared us to do anything about it. The same Team Obama that demonstrated flinty resolve in dealing with American CEOs has shown quite a different tone when it comes to our adversaries.
With Iran, a country that has threatened the existence of one of our closest allies and continues to speed along on its project to acquire the means to do it, President Obama has elected to reach out to them. In a videotaped message to Iran last, he gushed effusively about the accomplishments of their culture (without a footnote about the part that promotes beating women) and wished them happy holiday in Farsi. The response was an immediate rebuff from the mullahs, a diplomatic b—ch slap. Worse, the Financial Times last week reported that the Obama administration is seriously considering accepting Iran’s nuclear enrichment program as a fait accompli. In other words--Israel, you’re on your own. There will be no response from the U.S.
The Bush administration dropped North Korea from the terrorist sponsor list last year in hopes of wooing them to the six-party talks. The North Koreans have, in response, re-commenced their game of cheating and backpedaling on their commitments. This week, they once again stuck a finger in the eye of the Obama administration by firing a missile over Japan. When questioned about the impending launch last week, Robert Gates said meekly, “I would say we’re not prepared to do anything about it.”
So much for the Axis of Evil. It appears that we will simply offer no resistance to a nuclear North Korea or a nuclear Iran. Iran will be permitted to keep the centrifuges humming and North Korea will continue to gain concessions from the West without ANY meaningful concessions in return.
When Obama talked about $170 million in AIG bonuses, the rage in Obama’s face was palpable—you could actually see the veins pop out in his neck. He commits the full force of his administration to keeping capitalists in line and has no hesitation to use all legal and political means to make sure corporate executives reign in greed and recklessness. And he doesn’t flinch when he threatens other CEOs with the
In this administration, though, regime change is reserved for the capitalists. Confronting regimes that each have promised to incinerate a close ally of the U.S. is another matter. With rogue regimes, the Obama rage vanishes like smoke on a windy day. I don’t know how you even compare $170 million in bonuses with the idea that a madman has or soon will have the means to destroy Seoul or Tel Aviv (or New York or Washington D.C.). So far, the response from Team Obama has been a video postcard wishing them well and hoping they have a nice holiday.
His first priority after assuming office has been handling the banking crisis and the economy. In this arena, he had his artillery tubes trained on the villains he deemed responsible for the mess—the bankers. He immediately went after the highly paid executives of financial institutions, capping their pay, and in the case of AIG, threatened to “pursue every legal avenue to block [these] bonuses and make the American taxpayer whole.” At one point in addressing AIG, Obama lost his voice and commented, “excuse me, I’m choked up with anger here.” His treasury department let it be known that as part of the regulatory overhaul, they will be focused regulating and limiting executive pay in financial institutions, and hinted that regulation of executive pay might not end there.
Having put the financial executives in their place, Obama next focused on the auto industry, and in a stunning exercise of government power, pressured GM CEO Rick Wagoner to resign. I don’t know whether Wagoner was performing well or not under the circumstances, but it seems to be somewhat heavy-handed for the government to meddle in corporate governance in a for-profit enterprise. Immediately after Wagoner’s ouster, Tim Geithner then let it be known that he would not hesitate to pressure a bank CEO to resign.
Team Obama has no qualms about pushing around corporate CEOs. In addition to their shareholders and boards of directors, corporate leaders now need to worry that their performance will be assessed by the bureaucrats in Washington and that they will be unceremoniously shoved over a cliff. And if you happen to run a large financial institution, you now have your pay limited and you effectively serve at the pleasure of the Secretary of the Treasury. I thought they did this kind of thing only in the old U.S.S.R. This is real hardball. By strong-arming them, firing them, and taxing them, Team Obama has shown that it can and will play tough with the “recklessness and greed” in the corner suite.
Unfortunately, the tough talk and tough action seems to run out of gas when we’re talking about the murderous thugs overseas that have threatened us and our allies. The steely gaze averts when confronting dictatorial thugs bent on acquiring the means to inflict mass murder. Both Iran and North Korea have cavalierly ignored multiple UN resolutions with respect to their nuclear programs and have essentially dared us to do anything about it. The same Team Obama that demonstrated flinty resolve in dealing with American CEOs has shown quite a different tone when it comes to our adversaries.
With Iran, a country that has threatened the existence of one of our closest allies and continues to speed along on its project to acquire the means to do it, President Obama has elected to reach out to them. In a videotaped message to Iran last, he gushed effusively about the accomplishments of their culture (without a footnote about the part that promotes beating women) and wished them happy holiday in Farsi. The response was an immediate rebuff from the mullahs, a diplomatic b—ch slap. Worse, the Financial Times last week reported that the Obama administration is seriously considering accepting Iran’s nuclear enrichment program as a fait accompli. In other words--Israel, you’re on your own. There will be no response from the U.S.
The Bush administration dropped North Korea from the terrorist sponsor list last year in hopes of wooing them to the six-party talks. The North Koreans have, in response, re-commenced their game of cheating and backpedaling on their commitments. This week, they once again stuck a finger in the eye of the Obama administration by firing a missile over Japan. When questioned about the impending launch last week, Robert Gates said meekly, “I would say we’re not prepared to do anything about it.”
So much for the Axis of Evil. It appears that we will simply offer no resistance to a nuclear North Korea or a nuclear Iran. Iran will be permitted to keep the centrifuges humming and North Korea will continue to gain concessions from the West without ANY meaningful concessions in return.
When Obama talked about $170 million in AIG bonuses, the rage in Obama’s face was palpable—you could actually see the veins pop out in his neck. He commits the full force of his administration to keeping capitalists in line and has no hesitation to use all legal and political means to make sure corporate executives reign in greed and recklessness. And he doesn’t flinch when he threatens other CEOs with the
In this administration, though, regime change is reserved for the capitalists. Confronting regimes that each have promised to incinerate a close ally of the U.S. is another matter. With rogue regimes, the Obama rage vanishes like smoke on a windy day. I don’t know how you even compare $170 million in bonuses with the idea that a madman has or soon will have the means to destroy Seoul or Tel Aviv (or New York or Washington D.C.). So far, the response from Team Obama has been a video postcard wishing them well and hoping they have a nice holiday.
