Obama Gets Pep Talk From The Groper

Last Friday the 13th, President Obama claimed a major victory in his first month in office by ushering a $787 billion economic stimulus package through Congress. Wall Street promptly greeted the news with an 83-point drop that same day. That weekend, as details of Treasury Secretary Geithner’s proposed bank bailout plan began to materialize and euphemisms for nationalization were being tested on the Sunday-morning talk shows, all eyes were on the Street that following Tuesday to see how the financial markets would take to the news of their new “silent” partner.

Market watchers weren’t disappointed. The Dow tanked another 293 points. For the week, the market dropped over 550 points, and most likely would have lost more had it not for the President’s Day holiday. Network securities analysts started doing their best Howard Beale impressions, and many Americans began (or continued) stockpiling canned goods and bottled water in preparation for the Bolshevik Revolution of 2009.

Enter the Groper. Never one to shy away from dispensing unsolicited advice, or even the lure of a television camera, former President Clinton gave the current president high marks to ABC News for his handling of the economic crisis. But Clinton says that he would have tempered his big stick with a soft pillow. “I just would like him to end by saying that he is hopeful and completely convinced that we're gonna come through this,” Mr. Clinton told “Good Morning America” anchor Chris Cuomo. "It's worth reminding the American people that for more than 230 years everyone who bet against America lost money. It’s a mistake to bet against this country over the long run.”

It’s good advice, coming from someone who found himself entering a presidency under similar, albeit less gloomy, economic conditions. And Bill Clinton, despite his personal foibles, is a master politician. He “got” that the Wall St. v. Main St. rhetoric would do nothing to further his agenda once he assumed office, and instead worked the system to assure the markets that there would be something in his policies for everyone.

Obama’s class warfare oratory makes for good campaign sound bytes, and may even provide some measure of comfort to embittered Americans reeling from corporate excesses; but ultimately it does little or nothing to advance his agenda, and may even deepen the chasm of division he championed against during his candidacy. Like it or not, Wall Street’s and Main Street’s fortunes are inexorably linked, and excoriating one at the pleasure of another may worsen the current malaise – and that’s one word from a former president I don’t think the Obama Administration wants linked to it.