Frank Rich: Even Rick Wagoner’s Firing Got Lousy Mileage

[Me.]

“EVEN among pitchfork-bearing populists, there was scant satisfaction when the White House sent the C.E.O. of General Motors to the guillotine.

Sure, Rick Wagoner deserved his fate. He did too little too late to save an iconic American institution from devolving into a government charity case. He embraced the Hummer. G.M.’s share price fell from above $70 to under $3 on his watch. Yet few disputed the judgment of the Michigan governor, Jennifer Granholm, that Wagoner was a “sacrificial lamb,” a symbolic concession to public rage ordered by a president who had to look tough after being blindsided by the A.I.G. bonuses. Detroit’s chief executive had to be beheaded so that the masters of the universe at the top of Wall Street’s bailed-out behemoths might survive.

On this point even the left and the right could agree. The union leader Andy Stern publicly wondered why the administration didn’t also dethrone Ken Lewis of Bank of America. Thaddeus McCotter, a conservative Republican congressman from suburban Detroit, asked, “When will the Wall Street C.E.O.’s receiving TARP funds summon the honor to resign? Will this White House ever bother to raise the issue?”

When reporters did raise the issue of a double standard to the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, they got double talk: “I don’t have anything specific on Bank of America."...con...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/opinion/05rich.html?_r=1

[FrenchieCat]

1. Frank Rich needs to get over it......

I'm so tired of those who call a game at the top of the first inning, until it ain't even funny! It's like, give these assholes something to do....instead of this play by play bullshit. :eyes:

[MarjorieG]

3. I think financial mess so bad, that finesse and behavior change the only way. Not symbolic beheading

I enjoyed the comments from the CEO meeting o admin only thing between the CEOS and the pitchforks, or threatening to have Dorgan reinstate the Glass Steagall. I don't think we can put the genie back in the bottle, as they say, about the new toys, but I trust Obama to bring enough surface change to calm the masses, while fixing the severe crisis that would panic the world if numbers known. Just my intuition and business reporter hubby view.

They will do more as there are improvements and facts known. We don't yet know bottom.

[blogslut]

4. Read the whole piece

please :)

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. Amen .......

I'm a fan of Rich, but this one - he lost me.

I am enjoying, though, watching Obama drive EVERYONE nuts - especially these inadequate white males. He just doesn't do things the way THEY think he should, forgetting his famous observation:

"We won."

[Me.]

10. I Quite Agree With You

Obama is driving everyone one nuts, a true original. Don't care for Geithner & Summers and predict they will have to go. Love he wants everyone to disarm. There's no guessing on this guy. I always go back to his campaign. He ran the best one ever and had confidence in what he was doing. Didn't jump to please the pundits or anyone, did what he thought was right. This is so exciting and I can't help being thrilled that I get to watch him in the coming years. Add to that he and his know and watch everything. As I said, Geithner and Summers will have to go, Rich is right about that, but they'll go when Obama says they go.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

11. You touched on something -

I used to wake up in a sorrowful state, wondering what fresh hell awaited me and my country. For eight years, that was our lot, wasn't it?

Now, it seems like every day brings a new surprise, and they might not be what I would have done, but I'm betting our President knows better than I do, so it's rather delicious to sit back and smile and be perfectly ready to enjoy the day.

This latest - a call for nuclear disarming - CAN YOU BELIEVE IT??????????

I love the guy. Love both of them............

[SharonAnn]

12. Like you, instead of waking up with dread, I wake up with hope and optomism.

I do have strong views on many things and President Obama doesn't always handle things the way I would've, but I have such respect for him that I feel he's thought this through and made the decision according to his best judgment. That's OK with me.

[Me.]

13. Yep

I get in a snit over the fact that the Bushies aren't on trial yet (and he knows that has to be done) and then he does something like put aside 2 million acres and I go, oh yeah, that is fantastic. It's a ride. Health care, environment...this is going to be a so interesting. As for Rich, he's the most honest of the pundits as far as I'm concerned. It's clear, at least to me, that he is an Obama backer, but like all of us, he's going to have to sit back, watch the show, and see where he's taking us. And yes, it's delicious.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

15. Wanna hear my theory about prosecution of Chimpy et al.?

After a lifetime as a Washington lawyer, I've learned a few things, one of which is that, in government, the shortest distance between two points is very often a wavy line that seems to have no beginning and only an end.

Here's what I think has been going on with the idea of bringing those bastards to justice:

No sitting President, regardless of party, is going to back an investigation into a former administration, simply because it would set a precedent that could, conceivably, be used against his or future administrations, and that, honestly, is a road that should never be traveled.

So, since we have some very nice treaties with Spain, and a healthy relationship and history, Spain goes ahead an announces an investigation will be mounted.

Now, let me assure you that this would never happen unless it had been cleared with the White House. Countries who are allies do not do things unilaterally; there is always a lot of back and forth before anything is implemented or announced.

So, my theory is that this is all set up by the White House (Rahm Emanuel would be the point man), and the Spaniards are more than happy to cooperate. There has been some sort of quid pro quo, of course, but we may never know what it is.

And that, I honestly believe, is how they're going to nail Chimpy Fucknuts and his gang of thieving, murderous thugs, and President Obama will stand aside, with clean hands.

That's how Washington works.......................

[Lugnut]

16. I hope you're right.

The strategy does make sense for the reasons you cited. When I find myself questioning some moves being made by the administration my mind takes me back to the brilliant and successful campaign this team executed. That's what gives me hope.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

17. They're that good ............

For all the heavy-handed moves of the previous so-called "administration," that's how smart and slick these folks are. I've never seen anything like this juggernaut, and they show absolutely no signs of slowing down.

I think the Spanish investigation will be all we'll need. Now, it's gonna take a long time, but it will be done. I'd bet almost anything on it. My guess is that Cheney is shitting himself on a daily basis - not good for his heart - and Chimpy, if his little lizard brain is functioning, is bullshit furious and frustrate.

They don't dare leave the country. Wanna bet their lawyers have advised them thusly?

Next, let's watch Congress start getting smart - even the GOPigs - as they learn that it's much smarter, and makes their constituents much happier - if they go along with President Obama. They're starting to figure out how beloved he is out there, and in the whole world.............................

[Me.]

18. The Rub

While I do not dispute your expertise, how I wonder, will we get the felons to leave this country and thereby be arrested? I assume we are no longer into renditions. I agree with Fritz Mondale when he said that precedent is like leaving a loaded pistol on a kitchen table. Sooner or later somebody is going to some along and shoot. We let Nixon off, and Raygun and to our horror saw the result in the * admin. We've got to stop this from happening over and over. Actions need to start having consequences.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

19. We might have only the reality that

their shame will be their punishment. Men (I wonder if Condi will be included?) who are prisoners in their own country, shamed before the world, branded - quite legitimately and officially - as "war criminals."

Going down in the history books as such.

That might be all we'll ever get. Not very satisfactory, but that might be it .......................

[Me.]

20. They Are Shameless

So I hope you are right when you say Congress will join the bandwagon. I also hope Holder, who seems to understand the importance of the rule of law, will do something progressive regarding this matter.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

21. Don't bet on Holder doing anything

that will ever be made public. In fact, I think he'd be deliberately kept out of the loop - a Chinese Wall - in order to protect him.

This one is not going to be under US jurisdiction, but, my guess, a Spanish investigation, and then international law will kick in.

I hope I'm right about Congress, too; the passage of Obama's budget was critical, and the fact that NOT ONE GOPig voted for it is a stark and shameful exhibition of their irrational recalcitrance.

But, Obama has this steady, relentless way about him, and he never yields. I think he'll kill the GOPigs with The Death Of A Thousand Cuts while he takes everything away from them.

Once, I worked for a man who had been Harry Truman's White House Counsel, and when I asked him a question about something - about Carter, I think - Charlie told me: "Never underestimate the ultimate power of the Presidency."

I think Obama understands power better than any politician in the last fifty years, and that includes LBJ, who was magnificent in his manipulation of the game.............................

[Me.]

22. I Think He Will Ultimately Get His Way

There was a reason he talked about persistence. My hope is that he and I see eye to eye on this. If he gives me a call I will be sure to inform him. That would normally be a joke but with Obama you never know.

[Kaleko]

24. Obama is a systems thinker, capable of juggling

a number of perspectives and a master in consensus-building.

The man is of a caliber the world has rarely seen. That doesn't mean he won't make mistakes or fail through no fault of his own. The angle from which you view Obama is fascinating because it has the ring of truth. Keep writing about what you see, TLB.

[high density]

7. No kidding

What is the point of this article? Obama is damned if he do and damned if he don't.

[spoony]

23. You desperately need a new slogan

Because this "calling a game" thing isn't working at all. It isn't damning Obama to permanent failure status ("calling a game") to say he's made/making mistakes, any more than it's "calling a game" to wonder why a pitcher is throwing underhanded. And errors made by players are tallied regardless of the inning.

[BlooInBloo]

2. If you want a better answer, Frank, ask a better question.

[MasonJar]

6. I'm still waiting for the regulations. I am not happy with the article today

which said Obama and his advisors were working a plan to give money to a middle man so that they could avoid the new restrictions Congress imposed on executive salaries of those on the dole.

[MannyGoldstein]

9. Bend Over And Lube Up

BOHICA

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8320035&mesg_id=8320035

[MannyGoldstein]

8. Rich Frank Is The Greatest Editorialist Of Our Time

As always, he hits it dead on.

[Occam Bandage]

14. Yes, Obama fired Rick Wagoner to protect AIG.

This makes sense, because...er...look, AIG is bad. You don't like AIG, right? Now redirect those feelings towards Obama, if you would.