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March 18, 2009

AIG bonus outrage exposed as a White House con game

Thomas Lifson
President Obama's credibility takes yet another hit, as the White House anger expressed over AIG bonus payments has proven to be, in the New York Post's words, "Manufactured outrage." As the utter phoniness of the calculated demagoguery sinks in, another slice of the American public will conclude that America has elected a slippery con man to office.

The NY Post editorializes:

So now it appears that President Obama knew all about those AIG bonuses - in time to do something about them.

And how did he know?

Because Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told him about them - last Thursday, before AIG honchos disbursed $165 million in "retention" bonuses to many of the same folks who basically bankrupted the company last year.

So why, we wonder, was the president in such high dudgeon Monday regarding the payouts?

ABC's Jake Tapper reports on the Obama administration's defense:

It wasn't until Thursday, March 5, 2009, administration sources told ABC News, that officials of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York informed officials of the Treasury Department of the full extent of the $165 million in bonuses pending for the controversial Financial Products Subsidiary.

This was three days after the Obama administration had already announced a new commitment of an additional $30 billion for AIG.

However, the normally pro-Obama AP reports that White House officials knew about the bonuses for months.

It is all, in Michelle Malkin's words, Kabuki theatre. Sucker bait. A con.

A hypocrite who bungles a bailout, failing to perform due diligence and check the compensation arrangements (which had to have been disclosed to shareholders in public filings), hands out scores of billions of dollars, knows it is coming, and then feigns surprise and outrage.

This is despicable, dishonest behavior. It is sinking in with even MSM journalists. Even the liberal Washington Post editorializes today:

... this has not been a stellar moment for the man who came into office arguing that "the time has come to set aside childish things." With hundreds of billions of dollars in necessary repairs to the financial system still to come, Mr. Obama must find a way to explain those costs in terms that neither inflame the public nor insult its intelligence.

Hat tip: Ed Lasky, Lucianne.com

Posted at 9:30 AM | Email | | | Share Share