Political capital lost? Now, that's not exactly how I'd put it.
Capital lost? No.
Knocked off message? Yes.
The Republicans are attempting to push a talking point that Obama has blown it by showing that he's out of touch by not going for the throat on AIG right off the bat. Granted, that Obama didn't immediately show outrage was a bit disheartening, but sometimes he keeps too much of an even keel. And his initial reaction, that contracts were made and cannot be broken, was not a good move, did little to help his image, but much of his political capital comes from outside the Beltway. So is capital lost? Hardly.
The first paragraph of the story "Anger Over Firm Depletes Obama's Political Capital" WaPo writes:
President Obama's apparent inability to block executive bonuses at insurance giant AIG has dealt a sharp blow to his young administration and is threatening to derail both public and congressional support for his ambitious political agenda.
Where this actually comes from is a bit of a mystery because right next to the piece is the video titled "Obama: AIG Can't Justify 'Outrage' of Bonuses." The juxtaposition is amazing.
The anger towards AIG is constantly described as "populist," as if outrage at being cheated can only be described as such. The anger comes from everyone - the public, Republicans, Democrats, Main Street... If the only people who aren't angry are those coming from large firms like AIG it must be "populist" by MSM definition.
In an interview on MSNBC this morning when asked about whether President Obama had lost any political capital Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) answered, no.
Try as some might the anger can't be pushed on the President.
House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) said the bonus issue added to his belief that there will be almost no Republican support for any expansion of a bank-bailout program that passed Congress last fall with broad bipartisan support.
This just shows that everyone was in the same boat when that money was given out. Nobody was really paying that much attention when the bill was made and foolishly trusted such corporations as AIG to use the money properly.
Rep. Boehner has little understanding as to how legislation can be made so as to not have this happen again. (Not that he had any understanding in the first place.)
Yet, I digress.
Asked why the administration is attempting to claw back the bonuses now but did not do more to block the payments earlier this month when it was authorizing the latest $30 billion in new loans to the struggling insurer, Gibbs was unresponsive.
"The administration is taking the steps today to go back and see what can be done," he said.
Legally, is there anything more you can ask for?