Obama threatens bankers: I’m the only thing standing between you and the pitchforks
posted at 3:30 pm on April 3, 2009 by Allahpundit
Alinsky + Chicago = mob-tastic! My dad used to know guys like this growing up in lower Manhattan. Free advice from him to me to you: If you’re strapped for cash and one of them offers to help, decline.
President Barack Obama wasn’t in a mood to hear them out. He stopped the conversation and offered a blunt reminder of the public’s reaction to such explanations. “Be careful how you make those statements, gentlemen. The public isn’t buying that.”
“My administration,” the president added, “is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”…
“The only way they could have sent a more Spartan message is if they had served bread along with the water,” says a person who attended the meeting. “The signal from Obama’s body language and demeanor was, ‘I’m the president, and you’re not.’”…
The president spoke of public outrage over the high flying executive lifestyle. “The anger gentlemen, is real,” Obama said. He urged pay reform and said rewards must be proportional and balanced, and tied to the health and success of the company.
Slublog sums it up: “So let me see if I’ve got this right. The Democrats helped cause the crisis through bad policy, fanned the flames of outrage against CEOs and Wall Street and are now saying they’re the only ones who can protect the CEOs from all of those angry people out there.” Indeed, and all they have to do to earn that protection is fire their CEO or whatever else The One demands. Refuse — and if you follow the link, you’ll see that some of them actually want to return their TARP money — and they risk a visit from Timmy the Chin.
Anyone recognize the phrase “the anger is real,” though? The last time Obama used it was in his speech on race to back off all the haters who thought, inexplicably, that a would-be president should have piped up about Reverend Wright sometime in the course of 20 years. Evidently it’s a favorite formulation when he wants to lean on his audience. In which case, if he’s so worried about pitchforks, instead of creepily exploiting the threat of mob violence to centralize the economy, how about our modern-day Lincoln gives a speech asking Americans to cool off before bailout fatigue leads to someone getting killed? After all, the anger really is real.
Update: Comments imported from Headlines.
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This thread may not end well.
LastRick on April 3, 2009 at 1:25 PM
“Just ignore those buses full of ACORN people. I got nothing to do with them.”
Pasalubong on April 3, 2009 at 1:26 PM
Yeah forget the fact that his administration is the lead person holding the torch to light the way for the mob.
MobileVideoEngineer on April 3, 2009 at 1:26 PM
After a few more months, the pitchforks will be coming for the administration.
Snowed In on April 3, 2009 at 1:26 PM
Lessee…. Obama:”Gentlemen, I’ve been stirring up the pot. If you don’t dance to my tune, all those people I’ve stirred up will demand your heads. And don’t think I won’t let them! Capiche?”
Isn’t this a Hugo move? “Do what I say or The People will act?
Vanceone on April 3, 2009 at 1:27 PM
Mommypundit on April 3, 2009 at 1:27 PM
He’s the messiah, after all.
Chudi on April 3, 2009 at 1:27 PM
FIFY.
Snowed In on April 3, 2009 at 1:27 PM
That’s because his administration is at the front of the mob with the torches.
BadgerHawk on April 3, 2009 at 1:28 PM
Pitchforks are already on the way for the Congress, the White House is the next likely source.
myrenovations on April 3, 2009 at 1:28 PM
Wow, what projection. The folks with pitchforks are coming for barry, and he pretends he is defending the real cuplrits from the citizenry.
Vashta.Nerada on April 3, 2009 at 1:28 PM
Ok , so he physically threatens them . Chicago politics indeed.
the_nile on April 3, 2009 at 1:28 PM
^wishful thinking^
ernesto on April 3, 2009 at 1:28 PM
He’s running a protection racket. Do what he says and he’ll call off his goons.
zmdavid on April 3, 2009 at 1:28 PM
Well that isn’t profoundly creepy at all.
*gulp*
I give him high Marx, but he should really quit Stalin’. /rimshot
TheUnrepentantGeek on April 3, 2009 at 1:29 PM
The pitchforks might come to the White House.
jencab on April 3, 2009 at 1:29 PM
Another thing…
the ANGER toward any company (if at all) is that they got handouts at ALL. The bailouts in the first place were unamerican and I resent being lumped into uneducated class enviers. Is that a word? eh.
Mommypundit on April 3, 2009 at 1:29 PM
Haha.
BallisticBob on April 3, 2009 at 1:29 PM
Sure is a nice bank you’ve got here…it would be a shame if something happened to it. *wink wink*
Bishop on April 3, 2009 at 1:30 PM
He’s such an elegant man.
Mark1971 on April 3, 2009 at 1:31 PM
Yay, we’re screwed!
t.ferg on April 3, 2009 at 1:31 PM
He’s handing out the pitchforks…lying filth.
ZJPolitical on April 3, 2009 at 1:31 PM
Who is John Galt?
Pulchritudinous Patriot on April 3, 2009 at 1:32 PM
This is exactly where I expected this thread to go.
LastRick on April 3, 2009 at 1:32 PM
I’m reminded of the Michael Corleone meeting with Moe Green.
aquaviva on April 3, 2009 at 1:32 PM
Do not ask for whom the pitchforks are for Mr Obama, they are for thee!
Defector01 on April 3, 2009 at 1:33 PM
It sounds to me that he’s inciting violence.
Statements like that indicate thuggery on Mein Fuhrers’s part, not diplomacy.
madmonkphotog on April 3, 2009 at 1:33 PM
What a thug this guy is.
Someone start the impeachment process already.
Rae on April 3, 2009 at 1:33 PM
WashJeff on April 3, 2009 at 1:34 PM
The Obama White House hype machine at work. The tactic here is to inject a narrative in to the media about how “tough on big business” Obama is.
Hopefully, this whole experience disabuses Wall Streeters of the notion that they can “do business” with the Democrats.
Robert_Paulson on April 3, 2009 at 1:35 PM
Rush and Beck are only thing between Obama and Pitchforks.
the only good I can see about our present situation, is there is little chance the left could ever get the Military behind them if they really wanted to go the Dictator route
jp on April 3, 2009 at 1:35 PM
OK, OK, I’ll say it….. The emperor has no clothes… Little Lord Fauntleroy (a.k.a. ObewanBeDopey) lives in a little mirrored room and is a legend in his own mind. All he can see is his own divinity. Anyone ever see Stephen King’s “The Stand”? This caricature has Randall Flagg written all over him! The pitchforks have congress’ and his name written all over them. The bell tolls for thee, Obewan…
HomeoftheBrave on April 3, 2009 at 1:35 PM
I just call ‘em as I see ‘em.
Snowed In on April 3, 2009 at 1:36 PM
Don’t forget he’s “keeping score, brother”.
Rocks on April 3, 2009 at 1:36 PM
have to hand to him, he’s well on his way to being another Lincoln and by that I mean starting a Civil War
jp on April 3, 2009 at 1:38 PM
johnsteele on April 3, 2009 at 1:38 PM
But Obama didn
Bishop on April 3, 2009 at 1:38 PM
the_nile on April 3, 2009 at 1:39 PM
Glenn Beck’s head to explode in 5…4…3…2…1….
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on April 3, 2009 at 1:39 PM
Chicago thuggery. Obama needs to be knocked down a peg. I’m waiting for one of these bankers to publicly tell Obama to go F himself.
marklmail on April 3, 2009 at 1:40 PM
gatorboy on April 3, 2009 at 1:40 PM
Community Organizer in Chief is stirring the pot of discontent.
NSPD 51, folks.
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on April 3, 2009 at 1:40 PM
Is that a threat against the bankers, a statement on his hubris, or a slam against the American people? Or all three? Clown nose off.
Repurblican on April 3, 2009 at 1:40 PM
Dr.Cwac.Cwac on April 3, 2009 at 1:41 PM
Anyone know if Blackwater does domestic security jobs?
I figure that running security for major executives, and their families, at big firms like JP Morgan et all would probably be a very lucrative contract for them.
teke184 on April 3, 2009 at 1:42 PM
Lotta blacks in the military. Just sayin.
marklmail on April 3, 2009 at 1:42 PM
Robert_Paulson on April 3, 2009 at 1:42 PM
Wethal on April 3, 2009 at 1:42 PM
If the really want to return TARP money, and Obama WON’T LET THEM–that’s a perfect ad, right there, isn’t it?
“We represent Citigroup. We took bailout money. Now, we want to pay it back. But the President won’t let us. He wants to Force us to keep taxpayer money so he can control our company. Is this the American way?”
I don’t think the American people would take too kindly to having a company not be allowed to repay them.
Vanceone on April 3, 2009 at 1:43 PM
It’s time to run a PR campaign to support Financial LIBERTY. We need a conservative version of moveon.org NOW! In fact we need it YESTERDAY.
If this requires forming a new political party, so be it.
Skywise on April 3, 2009 at 1:44 PM
Wethal on April 3, 2009 at 1:44 PM
LastRick on April 3, 2009 at 1:44 PM
If we live long enough, perhaps we can tell our grandkids what it was like to live under fascist rule.
pt on April 3, 2009 at 1:45 PM
They’ll know about the fascism. It’s the freedom part they’ll never enjoy.
LastRick on April 3, 2009 at 1:46 PM
Now let’s see how many of those same banks work toward moving their HQs out of the U.S.; I would expect 2 or 3 will doe so over the next couple of year. Others will follow.
michaelo on April 3, 2009 at 1:47 PM
I trust 99% of those in the military to understand that he or she is an American, no matter what the color of their skin. If we knew how to build teams like the military does, we would not have a President who is a closet race-baiter today.
drunyan8315 on April 3, 2009 at 1:47 PM
The man’s never run anything in his life. Now he’s about to run everything. Too bad he’s going to get us all killed.
spmat on April 3, 2009 at 1:48 PM
awesome.
DeathToMediaHacks on April 3, 2009 at 1:49 PM
does he think the Tea Party’s are about the bankers?
ctmom on April 3, 2009 at 1:50 PM
Too bad Jamie Dimon didn’t say, “hey pal, you want me to take out my phone here and call David Rockefeller so you can tell HIM you’re the President?”
I’ll bet they all walked out of there and said, “Oh my God, who the hell is actually running the country — because that assclown sure isn’t!”
rockmom on April 3, 2009 at 1:50 PM
Skywise on April 3, 2009 at 1:51 PM
teke184 on April 3, 2009 at 1:51 PM
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, unlike Henry Paulson, doesn
MB4 on April 3, 2009 at 1:51 PM
drunyan8315 on April 3, 2009 at 1:51 PM
And when is he going to address the high pay of book authors who write about their own audacity?
ctmom on April 3, 2009 at 1:51 PM
Exactly. I’ll wave from our party on the 15th. Wonder if the press will report on them?
Vashta.Nerada on April 3, 2009 at 1:51 PM
Mommypundit on April 3, 2009 at 1:52 PM
Y’know… for a guy who’s never created a thing in his life you certainly like destroying other people’s liberties…
Skywise on April 3, 2009 at 1:52 PM
Obama’s problem, however, is that a protection racket only works well in secret. This sounds rather silly now that it’s public.
He can’t rely on the bankers to stay silent any longer, the way Paulson did with his threats of bank meltdown if they all didn’t take TARP last fall. That scare tactic won’t work any longer.
If “Dr. Obama” keeps insisting the patient needs more federal money, and the banks say, “No, we’re fine,” who’s Obama going to turn to to support him? Turbo Tax Timmy?
Wethal on April 3, 2009 at 1:52 PM
Does he/do they really believe the anger is for the bankers and Wall Street execs?
One day he’ll say “Who me?”
Oink on April 3, 2009 at 1:52 PM
Fixed!
rockmom on April 3, 2009 at 1:53 PM
Family-run banks are thriving
While those without ‘skin in the game’ are not.
A properly structured tax code would encourage companies to reward their executives on the long-run profitability of the enterprise, rather than on short-run profits, which is now the case. Members of Congress rant against the short-term mentality of many in Wall Street and elsewhere, but it is precisely the tax and regulatory systems put in place by Congress that have caused much of the problem.
If members of Congress had their pay raises based only on the increase in real, per capita, after-tax incomes that their fellow citizens either do or do not receive each year – rather than the nonperformance-based raises they now give themselves – they would have a long-run incentive to put in sound economic policies.
MB4 on April 3, 2009 at 1:54 PM
I think we need to force his hand…hard core. I think that the only way people will see him for what he is is if he is backed into a proverbial corner and these large takeovers collapse all around him and he has to force them openly to do…uh….whatever he wants them to do. If this crisis isn’t fully manufactured, he will have a hard time when there is no legitimate crisis to manipulate and the mask will come off more and more.
Mommypundit on April 3, 2009 at 1:55 PM
That’s what I would like to know. Do they have the reserves to slap a check on the desk and say “I’m out.” If so, he should call Obama on this, and here would be the plan:
- Create symbolic check for $25B.
- Notify media you (Dimon) are going to the treasury to return the TARP funds and you want it covered.
- Confront Geithner with the check and force him to decline repayment.
WashJeff on April 3, 2009 at 1:55 PM
The honesty is refreshing, I suppose.
Slublog on April 3, 2009 at 1:56 PM
There are two reasons that a person might be between you and the pitchforks. One is that he is willing to take the pointy end in your place. The other is that he brought them with him.
“Nice place you got here. A shame if someone came in and rearranged it for you.”–The Chicago way.
Count to 10 on April 3, 2009 at 1:56 PM
“There’s a lot of Ayers… anger, I mean, anger… out there.”
LibTired on April 3, 2009 at 1:56 PM
gwelf on April 3, 2009 at 1:56 PM
Sounds fine to me. My pitchfork isn’t even meant for the bankers.
MadisonConservative on April 3, 2009 at 1:57 PM
Well, all I know is that when I do the local tax day tea party, my sign will say:
Hey Media, REPORT THIS:
Tea parties are for Big Gov
NOT big biz.
Mommypundit on April 3, 2009 at 1:58 PM
gwelf on April 3, 2009 at 1:58 PM
Sounds like the power’s gone to his head.
Another thing to put in the “What if Bush did it?” file…
Enrique on April 3, 2009 at 1:58 PM
Are you stupid, a partisan tool, or both?
Rae on April 3, 2009 at 2:00 PM
You know who actually made the most money in all of these financial boom years? It wasn’t the bank CEOs. It was the derivatives traders, the mortgage brokers, the bond underwriters, the wholesale mortgage account executives, and the executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
rockmom on April 3, 2009 at 2:00 PM
For in a Republic, who is “the country?” Is it the Government which is for the moment in the saddle? Why, the Government is merely a servant – merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a patriot and who isn’t. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them.
- Mark Twain
MB4 on April 3, 2009 at 2:01 PM
Which side leaked this?
Qui bono?
aquaviva on April 3, 2009 at 2:01 PM
I highly recommend reading this post on PowerLine. It is about AIG. It includes testimonty by Hank Greenburg (long time CEO of AIG untilabout 4 years ago). In it you will see he disagreed with the AIG bailout and would have recommended letting AIG go bankrupt.
It them rehashes that the OTS (Office of Thrift Supervision) was monitoring the financial products that caused the distress in AIG. BUt like AIG’s employees, they did not see the coming storm. The regulator admits that if he saw the coming storm, he had the regulatory power to stop it. I.e., there were\are enough regulations is place.
Frickin maddening!
WashJeff on April 3, 2009 at 2:01 PM
Thug.
John_Locke on April 3, 2009 at 2:01 PM
I doubt the White House leaked it. If TOTUS wasn’t there then who knows what kind of ridiculousness came from the man’s mouth.
rockmom on April 3, 2009 at 2:04 PM
ever wonder why he’s so popular?
sesquipedalian on April 3, 2009 at 2:04 PM
Being in Ilinois, I hear frequently about the Blago stuff. A commong story is how people donated to Blago out of fear. Mainly, fear of being shut out of contracts. While I am sure this is prevalent accross the nation, I find it hard to believe that Obama was not expose, at best, or participated, at worst, in these types of tactics while in the Chicago\Illinois machine. Seems to fit with this banker meeting.
WashJeff on April 3, 2009 at 2:06 PM
Guardian on April 3, 2009 at 2:06 PM
My kind of loyalty was to one’s country, not to its institutions or its officeholders. The country is the real thing, the substantial thing, the eternal thing; it is the thing to watch over, and care for, and be loyal to. Institutions are extraneous, they are its mere clothing, and clothing can wear out, become ragged, cease to be comfortable, cease to protect the body from winter, disease, and death.
- Mark Twain
MB4 on April 3, 2009 at 2:07 PM
TheUnrepentantGeek on April 3, 2009 at 2:08 PM
MobileVideoEngineer on April 3, 2009 at 2:09 PM
Oink on April 3, 2009 at 2:09 PM
I hope the rumors of the ’round-up’ camps on military bases all over the country are real.
…He’s gonna need ‘em soon.
cntrlfrk on April 3, 2009 at 2:10 PM
MB4 on April 3, 2009 at 2:11 PM
jewells45 on April 3, 2009 at 2:14 PM
If the Obamination hasn’t supplied the mobs with the pitchforks then we wouldn’t have a problem, now would we?
Grafted on April 3, 2009 at 2:15 PM
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