Why did Obama choose Geithner and Summers for his Cabinet ?

[kentuck]

A lot of "leftists" have asked that question. Now Frank Rich, NY Times editorialist, has posed it again in today's NY Iimes. Why did he choose two insiders like Geithner and Summers to run our Treasury and our economy? After all, they were two people that were partly responsible for the meltdown on Wall Street and the big banks credit freeze.

In my opinion, it is because of Barack Obama's personality and pragmatism. It's just the way he is. He wanted someone knowledgeable and familiar with Wall Street and the way our banking system works. It was much like going into a prison to get an inmate to figure out how best to improve the prison system.

If nothing else, Barack Obama is a pragmatist. He wants to know what will work. With the economy in meltdown, with possibly the worst economy since the Great Depression, he wanted someone who knew what they were talking about, regardless of their past history. If it meant bailing out CitiGroup, Goldman Sachs, AIG, and the other culprits in the banking crisis, then so be it. He was not going to challenge those folks that knew more than he did about the banks and the economy.

Barack Obama knows what he knows and what he doesn't know. He knew the economy was in a mess. He looked for the most knowledgeable people he could find, regardless of their culpability in the crisis. That is why he chose Geithner and Summers for his team.

With the way in which he handled the banking crisis, we can assume he will handle the healthcare issue and other big "issues" in a similar manner. He will attempt to do what is possible, not what his supporters think should be done. He showed that in Iraq as well. He never withdrew the troops immediately, as his supporters wanted.

We are not trying to psychoanalyze the President, but we have seen enough in the last 8 months to see how he operates. In the present healthcare debate, he will not support a single-payer system because he does not think it is possible. He will look for a compromise that can be passed through the Congress and the Senate. We may not like it at all.

[babylonsister]

1. "He will attempt to do what is possible, not what his supporters think should be done."

Exactly.

[Deja Q]

5. Seconded.

[timeforpeace]

40. That excuses him from every promise he made, and assumes he can take us for granted. Both of which

are being proven on a daily basis.

[quiller4]

44. And thank God for that. It is time for pramatism.

[leftofthedial]

2. because he is a corporatist

and Goldman Sachs-Citicorp are the wealthiest corporations. They bought him early in his political career and told him who to appoint. They are every bit as bad as, and maybe worse than, Paulson ever was.

[kentuck]

3. I cannot bring myself to believe that...

Not yet.

From his past, I do not believe that he sold out overnight to the corporatists. Although he has taken a lot of money from them in the past, I do not believe he feels obligated to anyone at the present time. I may change my mind in the future?

[dmosh42]

4. You have the correct answer. A corporatist administration! n/t

Have we seen any change from Bush?

[geek tragedy]

24. They bought his birth certificate!!!3111!!1

Really, what a rubbish post. Paultardian.

[Echo In Light]

39. Same as it ever was. This is how to translate "electable;" it's code for CORPORATE PARTY 1ST

[Dinger]

6. Why Did He Choose Arne Duncan?

http://schoolsmatter.blogspot.com/2008/12/arne-duncan-privatizer-union-buster-and.html

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5269288



Arne Duncan (From Democracy Now!) Excellent, excellent interview (June 2009):

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/6/23/education_secretary_arne_duncan_pushes_to

[kentuck]

7. I'm not sure.

Is Arne Duncan as "anti-union" as some suggest? I think the President is very serious about getting a good education for all our children, regardless of union opinion.

[Dinger]

8. Is Arne Duncan Anti-Union?

Is this Democratic Underground?

[kentuck]

10. I don't know.

What do you think?

[Dinger]

13. LOL, Isn't That Obvious?

:rofl:

[kentuck]

17. Maybe to you?

But perhaps not to everyone.

[Dinger]

20. True (nt)

[ProfessorGAC]

25. Sometimes When It's Obvious To One Person. . .

. . .and not everyone else, it means that one person is WRONG!

Not that you would consider that possibility. Too locked into your own little world.
GAC

[AllentownJake]

9. What he thinks is possible

and what is right are two different things.

Our economic system is unsustainable. If he wants to prop up the old dying system for the short term he's only damning us to a worse crisis 3-5 years from now.

[kentuck]

12. A lot of folks would agree with you.

But we are in a precarious position economically. If he had not bailed out AIG, would the stock market be where it is today? Would we be in the depths of a deeper Depression? Would people have lost most of their 401K's and savings by now, if he had not done what he did to save the banking system? Would we have been better or worse off?

[AllentownJake]

16. Catch 22

We are going to experience pain.

The US right now is like a 400 pound man who had two heart attacks. We have to change our diet and exercise. Those aren't pleasant things when you spent 30 years eating cheese curls and watching TV.

However, we'll be happier and feel better about ourselves once we lose the weight and get healthy again.

The financial service industry is the cheese curls and the 401(k) is the TV.

Asking Americans to sacrifice right now is political suicide.

[ProfessorGAC]

27. Had Me, Had Me, Lost Me

Just keep thinking your tiny thoughts, pollyanna.
GAC

[justinaforjustice]

11. Obama Too Is Owned by Big Business.

The big corporations and Wall Street bankers now effectively control both our executive branch and our Congress. They have put their policy people in all the critical positions in the executive, while bribing our congressional representatives into compliance through their campaign contributions. The wealthy corporations and investors decide, through their financial support, who will be allowed to run in our elections. That includes Obama. Once in office, his advisers and top office holders are the representatives of those whose money got him there.

It is tragic, because, with his articulate intelligence, Obama could have been a force for real change in this country. The reality is, whatever his personal views, he is bound by the interests who allowed him to win the office.

Until we can get public campaign financing, even the best of our politicians will be tools of big business.

[kentuck]

15. If what you say is true...

what could the President realistically have done about it? When you are in the middle of a lion's den, it is difficult to think about how you are going to build a fence to protect yourself.

[elocs]

14. Well, he obviously failed to consult with DU about it,

just as he has done with all of his other decisions. If he only knew by doing that he would have a perfect administration for here he would find all wisdom and everything that needs to be known and what is not known here is not needed and not worth knowing.

[kentuck]

18. Are you sure about that?

:-)

[elocs]

22. Yes, obviously, otherwise his administration would be perfect and without error. n/t

[AllentownJake]

19. No he consulted with Geithner and Summers

Summers who helped create the mess and Geithner who fiddled while the subprime crisis unfolded.

[elocs]

23. Well, there you have it. He should have consulted with DU.

We have all the answers here and the ones we don't have aren't worth the trouble.

[geek tragedy]

26. No sane person would ever follow DU's advice to

Democratic politicians. If DU had its way, McCain would have defeated the formidable Edwards/Kucinich ticket by a margin of 200 Electoral Votes.

[kentuck]

28. "DU's advice..." ???

What advice would that be? What do we ever agree upon? DU is like most of the rest of society - it is all over the chart. Sometimes people have good ideas and sometimes they have terrible ideas. The challenge is to separate the wheat from the chaff.

[geek tragedy]

29. How about "follow the DU consensus?' n/t

[kentuck]

30. The DU consensus has been right on target on most issues...

from the stolen election of 2000 to the war in Iraq to the illegal activities of the Bush Administration to the desire of the American people to vote for change. On occasion, we have been wrong also.

[elocs]

46. Ohhh, you catch on quick.

;-)

[stray cat]

21. Why do you or any of us hire an employee?

[Greyhound]

31. A more apt analogy would be that he hired the warden from the cruelest,

most corrupt prison in the nation to "reform" the prison system.

[kentuck]

32. Perhaps?

If we assume that the warden knows more about what is going on inside the prison than the prisoners?

[Greyhound]

33. By all means, it makes just as much sense as what he's done.

The contortions of logic and application of wishful thinking that are being applied to excuse his obscenities are simply amazing.

[kentuck]

34. I am not trying to excuse it...

I am only attempting to explain the reality of what is happening and why.

[Greyhound]

36. There is no explanation from any sane viewpoint.

The reality of what has/is happening is plainly obvious and has been predicted for years and years. He has addressed it with the same strategy used before, find a way to kick the can further down the road until it's somebody else's problem.

His biggest problem, just like Idiot Frat Boy's was, is the question of whether or not the road is still long enough.

[sendero]

35. If they were so "knowledgable"...

... why were they such major contributors to the problem itself?

Could it be that the whole thing was a giant scam to suck the populace dry and then come back and "fix" it by sucking us dry again?

Because that is what it looks like to me and many others.

Pragmatist my ass, Obama is BOUGHT AND SOLD like the rest of them

And you wait, Health Care Reform is going to look a lot like Medicare Part D, sorta good for some people but GREAT for the industry.

Never in my lifetime has my cynicism with politicians been so completely justified.

[kentuck]

37. You are not alone in your cynicism.

But what were your realistic expectations of Obama? Do you think he could have accomplished those expectations if he had only tried? Or do you think the healthcare lobby is so ingrained and so strong that no one person can make any measurable reform at this time? They have the politicians bought, there is no doubt.

Watch this if you have the time: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/07102009/watch2.html

[sendero]

49. He didn't even try..

.... that's what I think.

[roseBudd]

38. Larry Summers bucked the Chicago School on the Rational Market model

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

41. Because "change" is a slogan, not a policy.

It's easier, politically, to tinker with a corrupt system and call it "change" than it is to "change" the system.

"In . . . politics people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing."

"History has tried to teach us that we can't have good government under politicians.  Now, to go and stick one at the very head of government couldn’t be wise."

Mark Twain

[asdjrocky]

42. In America, it's the corporations that have all of the true power.

Think I'm wrong? Take a look at how the msm is reporting the fake outrage at the townhall meetings. Take a look at the market and the fact that the banking industry virtually owns the Senate. Look at the bonuses. Not one person at the top has suffered and they never will.

Nothing happens in this country without the expressed consent of the corporate overlords.

[kentuck]

43. And if Obama did not understand that when he was running...

he understands it now.

I think he understands that nothing will get done without the majority of people behind him. Even then, they will have to fight like hell. He is no miracle worker. He is a slave to this corporate system as much as you and I are slaves to this system. Whether or not he is a corporate tool is the question. I think he is under the tent with the camels. By being in that position, he will be pissed on like all the others under the tent.

[asdjrocky]

45. I really want to be optimistic.

Hell, I am an optimist but you couldn't prove it by my posts of late. The problem is, I really like President Obama. Hell, I love him and his whole family.

But in the back of my mind there is this itch that keeps telling me it's all fixed and no matter how much I like the guy in office no real change is ever going to come. It sucks.

I'll be 50 in April and all I can really say is people tend to learn what they've been taught and I've been taught that my views when weighed against "corporate" or "business" interests always come up just short.

If the Democratic Party is still for the working and poor people of America then why are we fighting about health care and people losing their homes? We out number the repugs by a very significant number and yet progress is slow to nil. Why don't "we" just do this thing. It's because congress is not they "we" and perhaps they've never been "we". If you're in the very small club of "we", the "we" that counts, the corporate, moneyed "we", you play the game with a whole different rule book.

The MSM is all over our President and yet the wingnuts are convinced the media loves him. I've stopped watching all news except for Keith and Rachael because when I do it only serves to confirm my darkest fears.

The game is fixed.

[kentuck]

47. Slowly we may be coming to the realization...?

that we cannot reform anything until we reform the Democratic Party?

[asdjrocky]

48. Perhaps.

Maybe they'll tell us it's too big to fail.