I was about to hit the sack when I took one last look at my news stream and found this great post by my friend Barry Ritholtz.
The Tragedy of the Obama Administration
It is a must read. Â I am no Obama basher – and neither is Barry Ritholtz. Â In fact, we’re both entrepreneurs that believe in the right to compete and earn as much money as your ability (and luck) allow you to. Â Not exactly the mantra of the Democratic party. Â Nonetheless, if you are like us, you hate any sense of unfair play. Â You want to win, or lose, fair and square. Â You want your competitors to abide by the same rules. Â Wall Street hasn’t played by those rules in over 30 years – and they are now threatening the entire global financial system.
Obama had a chance to change all that – and he failed. Â Barry best summarizes this opportunity and failure in the following excerpt:
The opportunity existed to get the renegade banks under control — to reduce their leverage, their recklessness, and to get their hands out of the taxpayers pockets. That opportunity was squandered, and Obama ended up as a defender of the banking status quo. It is where his presidency could have achieved lasting greatness, and instead was turned into just another elected official, who over promised and under delivered . . .
HOW OBAMA BLEW IT
Watching Obama lose the house tonight was painful from a hope point of view. Â I personally can’t stand politicians and don’t believe either U.S. party will ever make a difference. But I did believe Obama – the person – was capable of making the changes he campaigned on. Â I could write for an hour but it would be futile and I’m tired. Â As such, I’ll summarize my view in these 8 bullet points:
- Americans haven’t been happy with the health care system for decades.
- BUT they were really mad about Wall Street / Bank fleecing right now.
- He should have tackled Wall St first and hard.
- It would have inspired citizens that desperately needed a hero.
- He could have then ridden that wave into any reasonable legislation he wanted.
- Obama blew it. I didn’t want him to. I’m a Conservative from Canada – but hoped that someone would stop the Wall Street train wreck.
- It would have been nice to watch a President act Presidential.
- Le Sigh.
Regards,
George