Posted by
Straight Ahead on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 12:43:15 AM
Late Monday night President Obama tucked us into bed with his angry outrage over the "greedy" and insensitive bonuses dispensed by and awarded to the sorry sad sacks at A.I.G.
Tuesday morning we awoke to a lynch mob comprised of senators and congressmen from both sides of the aisle. Armed with their own pitchforks, buckets of tar and fluffy feathers our "leaders" elbowed their way past one another in a race to the microphone.
Senator Grassley suggestsed the bonus-takers might assume a deeply contrite Japanese bow, apologize to the nation and commit suicide. Not to be outdone, Senator Schumer threatened to tax the booty to the full extent -- and give it back to the taxpayers! (Har har).
Then Rush came on the air and pointed out the hypocrosy. He documented the fact that every one of these gasbags knew about these impending bonuses more than a year ago. Which means that once Obama had taken office he had ample time to massage his bailout bill in a way that could have prevented A.I.G. from going forward with such bonuses.
Instead, incredibly, Senator Dodd made sure that the bailout package contained a clause allowing A.I.G. to dispense such bonuses with no restrictions. Tit for tat, inasmuch as Dodd was the number two recipient of political contributions from A.I.G. last year, second only to Barack Obama.
By lateTuesday, we nearly drove off the road when we heard ABC Radio news correspondent Ann Compton confirm that lawmakers have known about the pending A.I.G. bonuses for some months. We never thought we'd hear such words from Compton. But, she added, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner had only learned about the bonuses within the past several days.
Subsequent ABC Radio news reports began to soften in tone. Little by little, the president was distanced from the eye of the storm and provided with the shelter of plausible denial. By early Tuesday evening it was pronounced that Obama himself didn't know of the A.I.G. bonuses until yesterday.
Well, if that's so, somebody's got some 'splainin' to do.
Senator Max Baucus of Montana seemed to sense this, as he was first out of the gate, noting that the bailout bill was so lengthy that he hadn't even had a chance to read it before he signed it. Otherwise, presumably, he would have approached the gentleman from Connecticut, Senator Dodd with a point of order.
Baucus' admission probably extends straight to the top. Maybe President Obama should have taken the time to read the details of his bailout package (instead of partying in Chicago) before he signed it into law -- as he promised we would all have the opportunity to do before he went back on his word.
Yawn.
As we head to bed this lovely Tuesday evening, we wonder what tomorrow's news will bring.
No doubt the liberal conga line will reassemble and astound the public with more sleazy terpsichore, in various routines of wide-eyed innocence. And the beat will rise to a crescendo as the hapless A.I.G. execs sit down to their turn before the congressional spotlight.
The Wednesday Punch & Judy show up on The Hill will -- but should not -- distract from the true value question of the moment: What did president Obama know of the A.I.G. bonuses and when did he know it?
If he did not see the A.I.G. bonus fiasco coming until the past weekend, he is an ineffective leader and his staff needs to be shaken up.
If his tax-cheating Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, who crafted the bailout bill, knew that the A.I.G. bonuses were in the offing but withheld the information from the president, then Geithner should tender his resignation.
Same goes for Rahm Emmanuel. What good is a chief of staff who can't see trouble coming or, if he sees it, is unable to express it?
Or should Senator Dodd take the fall for having created the bailout provision enabling A.I.G. -- by law -- to dispense the bonuses?
If the president did see the situation developing -- more than a year in advance -- maybe he's the one who should make a deep Japanese bow and apologise to the nation for misleading the press and misdirecting all of this energy.
It should be interesting to see how B.O. will extract himself from the corner into which he has painted himself.