As Election Nears, Obama Tries to Have it Both Ways

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6474/the_clock_is_ticking_but_obama_doesnt_get_the_message/

Friday September 24 3:02 pm

By Roger Bybee

Some populist rhetoric (and action), while reassuring Wall Street

Over the last couple weeks, President Obama seemed to find the pro-worker, populist footing that marked his presidential campaign. It took an agonizingly long time, after stumbling through an extended period of alienating his base. But we saw a string of encouraging developments that might get potential Democratic voters fired up for the Nov. 2 mid-terms:

* Obama finally gave his base something to cheer about with his fiery Labor Day address in Milwaukee after a long, demoralizing period of capitulation to Establishment forces, as outlined in painful detail by Frank Rich, Bob Herbert, and Cenk Uygar.

* Obama followed that up with some tough talk in Ohio about the John Boehner and the Republicans' politics of utter obstructionism and their desire to return to the days of George W. Bush economics.

* Then Obama got Elizabeth Warren, the tenacious and articulate advocate for working people and consumers, on board as a White House advisor working with the new Consumer Protection Agency.

* To top things off, we were treated to the announced exit of Wall Street loyalist Lawrence Summers, an architect of Wall Street's disastrous de-regulation, a champion of corporate globalization, and opponent of stronger stimulus plans for the economy, who is properly skewered by Laura Flanders.

But don't get too enthused just yet—it isn't yet time to uncork the champagne:

* Summers' replacement may not be much better, Flanders notes. The Washington Post reports that the White House is considering trying to "blunt criticism" that they have been "anti-business."

* Then, for the key economic post director of the Office of Management and Budget, Obama named another Wall Streeter, Jacob Lew. Lew is known for receiving a $950,000 bonus from Citigroup and assisting in the Clinton administration's de-regulation of Wall Street banking.


FULL story at link.

[DJ13]

1. Obama's response to business interests reminds me of his response to the GOP

He'll bend over backwards trying to gain their trust, and it wont make any difference, they'll still hate him.

He should just accept he cant win them over and stop worrying about them, as doing so only weakens the reforms we need.