In Remarks On Bailout, Obama Sharpens Up Attacks On Bush, CEOs

[ProSense]

In Remarks On Bailout, Obama Sharpens Up Attacks On Bush, CEOs

By Greg Sargent - September 23, 2008, 3:24PM

In remarks this afternoon on the bailout, Barack Obama sharpened up his critique of the President and the bailout plan's "my-way-or-the-highway" aspects, invoking bad memories of past Bush haste and "intransigence" as a way of arguing for caution and the protection of taxpayers rather than letting our response be dictated by "fear or panic."

From the prepared remarks:

The President's stubborn inflexibility is both unacceptable and disturbingly familiar. This is not the time for my-way-or-the-highway intransigence from anyone involved. It's not the time for fear or panic. It's the time for resolve, responsibility, and reasonableness.
And it is wholly unreasonable to expect that American taxpayers would or should hand this Administration or any Administration a $700 billion blank check with absolutely no oversight or conditions when a lack of oversight in Washington and on Wall Street is exactly what got us into this mess.

Obama also cast unnamed CEOs as enemies of the national interest:

There has been talk that some CEOs may refuse to cooperate with this plan if they have to forgo multi-million-dollar salaries. I cannot imagine a position more selfish and greedy at a time of national crisis. And I would like to speak directly to those CEOs right now: Do not make that mistake...This plan cannot be a welfare program for Wall Street executives.

Obama's ratcheted up populist and anti-Bush rhetoric is about relying on mistrust of the Bush administration and corporate CEOs to counterbalance the panicked calls for an immediate solution and to create the political breathing room necessary for Congress to work towards a solution that has meaningful protections and oversight.

Obama also suggested ways to give the public a greater stake in the deal and to protect people dealing with the mortgage crisis, such as putting equity into these firms, rather than buying troubled assets, and giving government the authority to directly buy mortgages, rather than just mortgage-backed securities. Full remarks after the jump.

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[Cha]

1. The presser was a stunning contrast to what

the American people have been subjected to the last 8 years.

I liked it at the end when Obama confronted bush that this better not be a my way or the highway approach to solving the problem..I mean Who Does That?!

Obama!

[Median Democrat]

2. No Wonder DOW Went Up As Obama Spoke