First of all, as far as I know, baseball players didn't help to launch us into this economic crisis. Some players with large bonuses may not have gotten to the World Series, but they didn't hurt millions of Americans with their failure either.
Obama then attempted to justify his statement, saying, “I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessmen ... I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free-market system.”
Yes, the American people may have chosen the free-market system. They may believe in the American dream, where every little peasant boy and girl can become the next Bill Gates. The American people, however, are probably not thrilled by hearing about these executives' bonuses while they're reading the want ads in the newspaper. Furthermore, these bankers have been extremely dependent on taxpayers' dollars for the past year. They may be "savvy businessmen", but they haven't succeeded recently simply because they were the best in a big game of fair competition.
In Obama's State of the Union speech, he said that he understood "Some [Americans] are frustrated; some are angry. They don't understand why it seems like bad behavior on Wall Street is rewarded but hard work on Main Street isn't ... ", but declared that "To recover the rest [of the money we spent on the banks], I have proposed a fee on the biggest banks. I know Wall Street isn't keen on this idea, but if these firms can afford to hand out big bonuses again, they can afford a modest fee to pay back the taxpayers who rescued them in their time of need."
Obama seemed to understand the frustration many Americans felt when they saw their tax dollars go to the bail outs of companies that lavishly handed out ridiculous bonuses. And then came this interview.
Was his banker/baseball comparison a simple mistake, that he's now looking back on and shaking his head about? Was it an attempt to attempt to appear less anti-business? Did he take conveying his understanding of the average citizen, and support for business at the same time, too far?
4 comments:
it looks to me like these statements were both made in an attempt to gain the favor of a large amount of people. in his state of the union, he almost exclusively tried to appeal to the working class citizens who are struggling the most in this economic crisis. in the interview, he seemed to be backtracking a bit in order to appeal more to the business men and wealthy citizens. this is a perfect example of how politicians seem to strategically move their opinions towards the ideological center of the political spectrum in hopes of gaining the approval of the largest audience possible.
Sabrina is right, he's just playing the political game. Because his state of the union bashed republicans I'm guessing that this was a way to make peace, or show that he isn't exclusively a democrat. It would be much better to judge him on his actions instead of his words at this point.
When the banks were given those bonuses, I wasn't too surprised. Bad behavior is ALWAYS rewarded, but people don't notice it initially, or sometimes not even at all. People don't want to be responsible for handling bad behavior so it's rewarded, rather than punished. A
On a side note, I think it's absolutely outrageous how much athletes get paid. Wall Street is different because you need to know about money and how that affects your business and the economy. You also need an education of prestige. Obviously easier said than done, but athletes? Congress doesn't get paid nearly as much ... and neither does the president.
Stupid ...
I agree with Sabrina, it seems to me that in both of these cases Obama was trying to gain the support of two very different, but very large groups of people. However, I feel like it makes him seem a bit hypocritical, because one minute he is trying to empathize with the American population about their economic struggles, and the next minute he's out there saying that people should not envy these successful businessmen.
I know that many politicians play this political game, but I feel that it is his job as president to be as honest as possible, whether or not it is a popular idea/opinion, because otherwise the American people are going to continue to grow more skeptical of him and not trust him as a leader.
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