I know others have voiced their view and I respect it, like this:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
However, I ask you look at the article below, or at least the few paragraphs lifted from it, that I think show that the President's team is getting a bum rap on this successful prosecution of Goldman Sachs.
In addition to the excerpts set out from the article, I urge you to read the biographies of the lawyers whose lives are well describe in the story. It is a real tribute to the Obama administration that such first rate, well trained lawyers were invited into the administration and that these top flight lawyers gave up careers that were a lot more comfortable for a few years in Washington. Yes, this success will increase their value in the job market and may even give them material for a book or two, but they risked a great deal by taking the jobs and then by going after the biggest monster in the woods.
These lawyers and the people who recruited them and kept them in DC and gave them the support to take on this project and push hard, deserve a great deal of credit.
The Generals Who Ended Goldman’s War
Chris Kleponis/Bloomberg News; Susan Walsh/Associated Press
Robert Khuzami at the S.E.C., left, negotiated for months with Gregory Palm at Goldman Sachs to settle a case that could define both of their careers.
By LOUISE STORY
Published: July 16, 2010
LAST Wednesday at around 3 p.m., the Securities and Exchange Commission and Goldman Sachs settled an epic, seismic battle — one waged over whether the storied investment bank defrauded investors in a transaction that regulators said Goldman had built to self-destruct.
. . . . .
In the end, Goldman decided to steer clear of a protracted and damaging trial by paying a $550 million penalty, which the S.E.C. went out of its way to describe as the largest ever against a Wall Street firm. Goldman acknowledged that its marketing materials for the deal in question, known as Abacus, were lacking, and it agreed to greater disclosure around such transactions in the future — a concession that affects the entire financial community and could eat into some of the lush profits firms earn on complex deals engineered in the shadows.
. . . .
"After a long history of losing, this is a major victory for the S.E.C. and the enforcement division," says Barry Ritholtz, who, as the head of Fusion IQ, a financial research firm, also oversees a closely followed financial blog, The Big Picture. "In general, it’s better for the investing public when the cop is on the beat and actually paying attention."
For Goldman, says Mr. Ritholtz, the case has been an embarrassment and a setback.
"Look, they were the firm on Wall Street that avoided the subprime collapse, and they could have come out of this with their reputation enhanced," he says. "Instead they came out with: ‘O.K., let’s get this right: You played fast and loose with the rules and dumped stuff on your clients and created products in order to get short? I mean, it’s harder to get sleazier than that outside a boiler room. But we don’t yet know if that has caused lasting damage to Goldman’s reputation."
http://www.nytimes.com/...
I know the msm will much rather trash the President for going to Maine instead of the Gulf Coast for the weekend or, alternatively, if he had gone to the Gulf Coast, trash him for using his family as photo op like Deaver did for Reagan, to grand stand.
It is oh so easy to say that Goldman got a slap on the wrist or a sweetheart deal because so many Goldman players are in the Obama Administration and the like, but the reality is that the name Goldman Sachs is now and forever associated with the comments "its harder to get sleazier than that outside a boiler room."
We probably will never know the names of all the Goldman Sachs management who put together "Abacus", knew what it was doing and approved, covered up the problems,were on the disaster management team, etc., but none of them will be proud of the fact that what they did was compared to sleazy boiler room operations.
If Goldman Sachs had defeated the Obama team it would be front page in the NYT and screamed on FOX and the WSJ for days. An Obama win is buried so I hope you read the article and share it.