Nothing in this year's exit polling hurt more than this:
Got that? Of the 35 percent who think Wall Street is to blame for our economic problems, 57 percent voted Republican -- the party that does nothing but carry water for Wall Street.
So why is that? It's because people think there is no difference between the parties when it comes to the rich and powerful. And why should they? Obama's finance team is essentially a branch office of Goldman Sachs and company. Treasury was more concerned with using HAMP as a way to protect the banks than help struggling homeowners stay in their homes. In a bizarre role reversal -- the White House economic team tried to water down the finance reform bill that came out of Congress.
It's not hard to see why people have gotten the sense that Democrats aren't much better on Wall Street matters than Republicans (even if they are).
A smart administration and Democratic Party would use the next two years to repair that erroneous impression, and adopt the kind of message that could win back many disaffected populists.
Shit like this won't do the trick.
Roger Altman, founder of Evercore Partners Inc. and a former deputy treasury secretary, is a leading candidate to replace Lawrence Summers as director of President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Altman met with Obama yesterday afternoon to talk to him about the job as head of the White House group that coordinates policy-making and economic advice for the president.
Why would the administration look at Wall Street instead of finding someone who would be eager to do battle with it?
Altman, 64, who served at the Treasury Department under former President Bill Clinton, has close ties to the business community. The people familiar with the matter said he might be able to repair the rift that has emerged between Obama and investors. Altman didn’t return a request for comment.
Rift? What fucking rift? Here's the reality:
Investors around the world say President Barack Obama is bad for the bottom line, even though U.S. corporations are on track for the biggest earnings growth in 22 years and the stock market is headed for its best back-to- back annual gains since 2004.
Yeah, you better repair that relationship, frayed by record success amidst global economic meltdown! Obama should tell those whiners to go fuck themselves, rather than bend over backwards to coddle them. Those assholes should be grateful the taxpayers bailed them out, rather than bitch about imagined slights.
Here's the bottom line -- Obama and the Democrats need to repair their relationship with voters. They can either focus on that, and the hell with Wall Street's hurt feefees, or we're headed for a Republican trifecta in the White House, Senate, and House in 2012.
