20

Mar

by Moonage

President Barack Obama said Thursday on “The Tonight Show” that he was stunned when he learned of the bonuses that bailed-out insurance giant AIG was paying its employees.

Obama told host Jay Leno that the payments raised moral and ethical problems — and that the administration was going to do everything it could to get the money back.

But Obama added that the bigger problem is the culture that allowed traders to claim them.

He said that has to change if the economy is to recover.

Obama also said his embattled treasury chief, Timothy Geithner, is doing an “outstanding job.”

That was last night.  Earlier yesterday we had another revelation:

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told CNN Thursday his department asked Sen. Chris Dodd to include a loophole in the stimulus bill that allowed bailed-out insurance giant American International Group to keep its bonuses.

In an interview with CNN’s Ali Velshi, Geithner said the Treasury Department was particularly concerned the government would face lawsuits if bonus contracts were breached.

So, Obama was stunned when he learned of the bonuses that Geithner apparently insisted they be able to receive.  However, he still thinks Geithner is doing an “oustanding job” even though he’s “stunned” with the result.

In my line of work, when I am “stunned” with someone’s actions, I fire them.

Obama is amassing a huge liability of contradicting himself.  If he is truly “stunned” when he heard of the bonuses, then he can not possibly be happy with the person that approved them.  By removing the bonus clause from the TARP legislation in January, Geithner became the person responsible for them.  Additionally, the “culture” Obama referred to was enacted January 21, 2009, when Chris Dodd sent the legislation to be voted on that Timothy Geithner stripped the bonus clause from.

Additionally, it bothers me that Obama was “stunned” in the first place.  If he is telling the truth that he was “stunned”, that means he had no clue what Geithner was doing.  That doesn’t sound good at all.  And, quite frankly, that doesn’t sound like the Obama that had such a tight grip over his campaign.

Something’s definitely amiss here.  I”m sure Nancy Pelosi will get to the bottom of it.

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