Obama's most striking betrayal of his base and his mandate to reform is in his kid gloves treatment of one of the worst financial crimes in American history. And of course he is not alone. The Congress is a disgrace, falling to historic lows in their public approval. The Republicans are shameless in their obstructionism, and there is not a leader worthy of the name amongst the Democrats.
I struggle quite a bit with his motives, constantly arriving at the conclusion that he is held captive by the system that rewarded and elevated him. Ignorance does not suffice, and moral cowardice does not seem appropriate. More likely is the expedient amorality of the modern managerial mind. The deal is what is important.
And sadly enough, there is no real alternative in Romney, who as the modern predatory financial manager will say or do anything to make the deal happen. And the pigmen are licking their lips at the thought that their man might take the reins.
This is the weakness of the two party system, and a Presidency that, excepting for the occasional impeachment, allows a President to reign for four years once he (or hopefully some day she) manages to persuade the electorate to accede in their ascendancy to power.
"The debate revealed that Obama does not stand for anything positive when it comes to the banksters or distressed homeowners. Geithner is not a banker or a technocrat. He is an American apparatchik who rose by attaching himself to powerful political patrons and telling them what they want to hear. That reflects badly on Obama.
Geithner gave Obama the answers Obama wanted to hear – we must not act against our largest donors (and Geithner’s most likely future employer), the banksters, by holding them accountable for their frauds because if we were to do so the economy would collapse. Geithner’s answer, which became administration policy, was to lie about the banksters’ role in causing the crisis and the financial condition of the banks.
Obama should hold Romney accountable for his endemic lies during the campaign and debate, but he would be in a better position to do so if he fired Geithner and Holder, ended his administration’s lies about the banksters, and reversed the administration’s unjust and destructive financial policies.
Obama needs to stand for something – he should stand for the American people against the banksters and the SDIs. The irony is that by following Geithner’s advice Obama acted dishonorably and foamed the runway for Romney’s lies about the financial crisis."
Read the entire essay by William K. Black here.
