Obama has denounced the $20 billion in end-of-year bonuses that Wall St just awarded itself as "shameful."
You can see from the video that he seems genuinely annoyed - and apparently his statement came about in spontaneous response to a Wall Street Journal news story he'd read that morning.
As ever with Obama, this intervention stems from a mixture of genuine feeling and cool calculation. He really does believe that at a time he's asking everyone in the nation to pull together, the bankers aren't keeping their end of the deal. But he also knows that as he tries to get the stimulus bill - still closely associated in the public's mind with the bailout - through the Senate, he can't afford for voters to think he's condoning this kind of behaviour.
It's also a measure of his confidence. He's not concerned, as some other Democrats might be, about being called "anti-business", and - despite being ten days into the job - he's happy to take moral as well as political leadership of the country.
Wahey! Your book arrived today. Will dig into it as soon as I've finished "The Audacity of Hope." Should be interesting to read yours on the heels of Obama's!
Posted by: Lyle | January 30, 2009 at 01:18 PM