President Takes Responsibility for AIG (Not Really)

My ears hurt….
By the way, what brave reporter asked him about the contribution AIG made to his campaign? Of course, Obama ignored the question completely.
But at least the questions are starting to come out…Keep up the good work !
Tapper, as always….keep on it! We’re listening.

So, is he taking responsibility or not? It is getting very tiresome listening to him blame others and feel sorry for himself (“we inherited this mess”, etc., etc.).
“it’s my job to make sure we fix these messes, even if I don’t make ‘em.”
(even though he signed Stimulus Bill containing the “Dodd Provision” allowing execs to claim bonuses announced prior to 2/1//09)(BTW, Dodd is the #1 recepient of donations from AIG at well over $100k and The Community Organizer isn’t far behind)
“For for everyone in D.C. scrambling how to blame someone else, just go ahead and talk to me,” the president said, deviating from his prepared remarks,…”
What? He spoke without the teleprompter? What gives?

So…is the “legal” ponzi scheme the stock market?
He always seems to indicate the stock market high was fake and built on greed, people’s current losses are fake, but he will build up some sort of true wealth that won’t go bust.

Somebody please do the math on the AIG bonuses. The bonuses amoount to about .1% of the money Congress gave to AIG. How does that complare to the pork that Congress added to the Federal budget. It amounts to about .23% fo the budget and Congress is not complaining.

I don’t like huge bonuses for overly paid exec’s who take unreasonable risks and place the whole country is dire straits. It is infuriating that there were so few regulations in place that it could happen at all. I do not blame the president… and am not sure whether Geithner is culpable. I am not going to call for his ouster at this point. The Republicans have pounced on everything this administration has proposed. This makes me very suspicious that their motives are more political than substantive. They are trying to embroil this country in a witch hunt…a game they are famous for.

BTW – Does anyone have any idea what Jimmy Carter was doing at the White House today? With all the turmoil surrounding the WH these days, it isn’t exactly comforting that he is seen there for what I assume is to provide counsel…

Sorry Karen. Blaming Bush for bills passed in February that specifically permitted this makes no sense. Obama and Congress own this one completely!

Concerned in OH:”He did make this mess. Dodd added the bonus protection language in, 0bama signed it into law.”
When Obama signed that bill, he legally forbid any future bonuses like this until the US taxpayer was fully paid back. Should he have vetoed that too?

A President that actually comes out and says “I’ll take responsibility for it”
This guy makes that clown bush, and the rest of those P.U.N.K.S in Washington look like childish idiots.
Bravo President Obama !!!!

I love how Republicans pretend they can govern everytime they are out of power.

Oh, and why is Obama filling out brackets and campaigning in Orange County when he needs to be in the Oval Office coming up with a reasonable bank rescue plan.

WOw President Obama’s teleprompter almost assumed responsibility for something.
I’m impressed.

Thanks Maybee. I blew it on that one!! Sorry Jake.

He’s EVERYBODY PRESIDENT whether you like him/not or agree/disagree with him!!!

“Please name the deregulation that Bush signed into law that created this mess.”
Apparently the SEC didn’t think they needed a law to deregulate the banks because they went ahead and did it regardless. Bush and the rest of the Republicans didn’t voice much protest about it anyway.

This is all a diversion created to keep our attention off the real AIG issue which is how AIG has been used to launder money going to institutions here and abroad. The press seems to be starting to have flashbacks of their previous role in a democracy, and may even get to the bottom of this. Why does a blogger have to uncover the retention bonuses at Fannie and Freddie? Go get them Jake!!

“The Security and Exchange Commission deregulated the banks on their own? And George Bush is at fault because he didn’t protest? And this is what caused the financial mess we’re in?”
Like I was trying to say:
The Republican controlled congressional banking committees never even held any oversight meetings on some of the biggest changes.

“For for everyone in D.C. scrambling how to blame someone else, just go ahead and talk to me,” the president said, deviating from his prepared remarks, “because it’s my job to make sure we fix these messes, even if I don’t make ‘em.”
What a joke. I take responsibility but i didnt make the mess? Huh?
You are the President now Obama, stop crying about the past. If you didnt want those bonuses going out, you could have negotiated to get rid of them before the march 2 2009 deal to give AIG 30 billion more. Or are you too incompetent to know what is going on at AIG before handing out 30 billion more on 3.2.09?
Which is it, Obama supporters?
Did Obama intentionally avoid the bonus issue when granting AIG 30 billion more on 3.2.09, or is he so incompetent that he didnt know about the bonuses before handing out 30 billion to AIG on 3.2.09?

“What changes? When did they happen? What effect did they have?”
Like in 2004 when they waived the leveraging rules for Bear Stearns, Lehman Bros, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Any of these names ring a bell?

The bonuses are just shut up money.
There seems to be quite a scandal brewing around AIGFP.
If these people don’t get their bonuses, they’ll give up evidence, and then we’ll get to hear about the real outrages going on there.

Christopher Dodd is a damned liar.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

“Christopher Dodd is a damned liar.
That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.”
OMG that’s hilarious! -I’m not trying to be condescending or sarcastic at all. You got to admire conviction.

While all the Republicans in congress feign outrage at the AIG bonuses, the GOP’s true leader, Rush Limbaugh, is all for them.
Know what that means, don’t we? The Republican party will soon push for even bigger bonuses!!!

How does one (or The One) say how whether or not jobs were created OR saved?
If 20,000 more illegal immigrants come into the U.S. next year, will that mean that 20,000 jobs were created?
If 5000 Americans die at the work place does that mean 5000 jobs were saved seeing as how they weren’t fired, laid off or quit?
How does this work exactly?

Come on now. The doctors want the bail out money now.

“Explain to me the nefariousness of allowing these companies to increase their debt to capital ratios? And if this was the root cause of the economic crisis, why didn’t those banks fail in 1996 prior to the rule being enacted?”
Because they got really carried away and started to leverage to very dangerous levels. Of course there will be those who will argue otherwise, but it seems to be no coincidence that these same firms were the ones to start collapsing first, and they were big enough players that the rest of Wall Street, particularly AIG, and the entire economy was badly damaged. . As for why they didn’t fail back when, I don’t know.

I get bloggers who don;’t see the big picture but Tapper and the other small minded reporters should help keep our eye on the BIG picture
Market over 7500 today – stabilizing
Housing numbers published yesterday – better then expected
Inflation in Feb up .04% on track for a “normal” year
Are we determined to not let this country recover?
Are we not in agreement that the bubble is the result of lack of oversight and vitually no regulation?
Yeah there are some bad guys and
Yeah there are some people who are getting money they don’t deserve
But if it costs $165, which is less than 1% of the AIG loan money to clean up the company and get the taxpayers back their money down the road – isn’t that more important than this insane witch hunt the press is diverting attention to?
This $165M is a big number – but it was reduced from $450m which is a bugger number –
People who understand the complications of these businesses have to wind them down

Amen Nashville.

I didn’t see Jake ask these questions of Pres. Bush. It is clear to me that Tapper hates Obama and wishes to see him fail, no doubt. And I am sure Obama knows that too from Tapper’s reporting on the campaign trail. Tapper never gives Obama a break. But that is ok – we are watching you, Tapper and so is God Almighty. God will look after Obama and protect him from evil men like you. Tapper is a jealous and envious fool who has a dark heart. May God Bless Obama and keep him safe and protect him from men like Tapper!!

“So in a nutshell, you really believe, deep down, that noble Democrat ideals are being ruined by evil Republican principles & philosophies?”
I would modify that to say that in this particular case noble Democratic ideas were ruined by greedy people of all denominations. The fault of the Republicans was that their principles and philosophies prevented them from stopping it. I think it’s interesting to consider that if the Republicans were in control all along the housing plan wouldn’t have been implemented so the whole bubble wouldn’t have happened and if the Democrats were in control all along they would have implemented the plan and then once they saw it was getting abused they would have done something about it and the bubble wouldn’t have happened so it seems to come down to an effect of the changeover of power in 2000 exacerbating the weaknesses of both parties.

In the end it all comes down to philosophy. We’re never going to agree on some of these things so if we’re going to avoid disasters like this one we have to learn to compromise. I remember when I was a kid my aunt used to say: “now, now kids -fight nice!”

You are the President now Obama, stop crying about the past. If you didnt want those bonuses going out, you could have negotiated to get rid of them before the march 2 2009 deal to give AIG 30 billion more. Or are you too incompetent to know what is going on at AIG before handing out 30 billion more on 3.2.09?
Which is it, Obama supporters?
Did Obama intentionally avoid the bonus issue when granting AIG 30 billion more on 3.2.09, or is he so incompetent that he didnt know about the bonuses before handing out 30 billion to AIG on 3.2.09?
Posted by: Anti-Harkonnen Freedom Fighter | Mar 18, 2009 9:35:12 PM
It’s comments like this that drive a person to become partisan. It isn’t whether he knew or didn’t know, it’s the fact that he wasn’t upfront about WHY it was being paid. As a logical person, I’m smart enough to understand WHY it was paid, it’s that HE didn’t think so that pisses me off. However, I will say that comments like the one above just validates his theory doesn’t it.

Well, I tell ya what Jake, Obama should be taking responsibility, as AIG paid him 100K in the 2008 cycle….and even 24K after the Sept 08 AIG collapse…i’ve done a little research.
If the Administration is so ready to admit they’ve been the Administration for 60 days (anyone who reads the papers knows the White House watered down the Dodd amendment at the time of the “stimulus” legislation), how about talking about campaign contributions after the AIG collapse and first bailout occurred via Paulson, Bush, Geitner and Bernanke?
Proving that Obama received campaign contributions from AIG employees after the bailout isn’t difficult at all. Just do an advanced search on fec.gov for contributions made on or after September 16, 2008.
After a quick search and calculations (subject to double checking of my math), Obama for America, Obama’s main campaign fund, directly received at least $8,600 post-bailout contributions from employees who listed AIG as their employer. This doesn’t take into account employees who listed their employer American International Group or a subsidiary name that doesn’t include AIG.
Obama’s joint fundraising fund, the Obama Victory Fund, received at least $15,521 in post-bailout “bonuses” from AIG employees. I’m not 100% sure of how the reporting works, but it appears that the bulk of the bonuses paid to the joint fund, at least $12,171, went into Obama’s main campaign fund. And it also appears that at least $2,550 of those “bonuses” came from two employees of the much-demagogued AIG Financial Products subsidiary.
That’s a total of over 24,000.00 in cash to Obama from AIG employees, after AIG collapsed in September 2008, that Obama has not returned or even discussed publically. Obama refused to answer a question on the AIG contributions today.
Well that may be a real story. Proven donations to Obama from AIG execs after the bailout announcement to AIG in the early fall, that could be a real story.

Obama is only as intelligent sounding as his teleprompter. Without the teleprompter Obama is almost incoherent in his ramblings.

While he’s assuming responsibility he should just go ahead and admit that Pelosi is the real president.
He’s just there make history, read off of the prompter and convince taxpayers that it’s OK to waste their money.

Someone ask him about the AIG contributions to his campaign !
Reporters listen up: You are our eyes, ears and mouth….please hold him to the fire! He was never vetted properly by the MSM…We have been screaming at our television sets for 2 years about this guy.
We (heart) you tapper. Keep it up.

i love all of you people who scream about the msm finally “waking up” and asking questions and holding obama accountable, blah blah blah. (55 days in to his administration, he’s more accountable than bush EVER was) where the hell were you all for the past 8 years, when they sat on their fat wallets and didn’t ask one hard question, for fear of being shut out of the press pool?
think maybe if they had been doing their jobs, we might not be in this mess? think maybe if they asked hard questions before the war in iraq, all of that money wouldn’t be gone? think maybe, if they had investigated the companies behind the housing and mortgage crisis, that maybe there wouldn’t be a need for bailouts??
so now, we have another democrat in the white house, and the press corp is allowed to ask questions again. good. i welcome it. obama actually answers the questions. frightening, i know.

I don’t get it!!! Why all of a sudden everybody is expecting the President to create a miracle out of the economic mess?? Why all of a sudden everybody expect the President to make dishonest people honest??? SERIOUSLY who knew AIG was going to paid out bonuses with bailout money…WHO…AIG…not the President. From the outside looking in (like EVERYBODY else) the President expects people to do the right thing with the monies given. Unfortunately…Americans are greedy!!! And now it seems like Americans are not willing to work together to get to the solution under the current President. I wonder how different things would be if McCain was in office. But apparently there aren’t enough McCain supporters out there. I JUST DON’T GET WHY THERE ARE SOOOOOOOO MANY PEOPLE AGAINST WORKING TOGETHER!!!!

Gimme a break, dude. There’s a difference between saying I am now responsible for this and saying that I did not get us into this mess.
He owned up to it, but will not take credit for the problem.
Seems reasonable to me. But MAN does Jake Loooove these gotcha moments!

Seems everyone is still blaming Bush. Anybody realize that in the agreement that was signed it had in it that all AIG’s executives which had a employment contract before Feb 11 would still get their bonuses yet our idiot politicians still signed it including Obama, so let’s put the blame were it belongs on this one. Amazing our politicians are grilling Libby when they are the ones that signed the bill. Hello people, yes it’[s greed but remember who signs these bills in next election and get the bumbs out.

Do you think Obama has time to look over million contracts between aig and its employees before he help Bush to sign 10000 pages bill? Use your common sense.

Obama is right; the bonuses are a symptom of a system and a culture. But you don’t effectuate business reform by having the government grab the reigns and take it over the operations of a company. A much more effective way: LET AIG FAIL!!!
Consider this: we know about the AIG bonuses. What else is under the carpet??? We’re supposed to trust Geitner to reform AIG on an operational level??? Bad bad policy.

To Come On Jake,
I’m very glad that a handful in the media are holding the president accountable for his actions. Obama is crashing and burning…just what the conservatives thought would happen. If you don’t have the stomach for the destruction, I suggest you stop reading the news. I’m finding it hard to watch myself. It’s only unfortunate the media didn’t hold the candidate accountable.