A Dire Straits message for President Obama
Is President Obama suffering from Stockholm Syndrome brought on by the D.C. culture of Regulatory Capture corruption he inherited?
Regulatory capture occurs when a state regulatory agency created to act in the public interest instead acts in favor of the commercial or special interests that dominate in the industry or sector it is charged with regulating.
Stockhom Syndrome: In psychology, Stockholm syndrome is a term used to describe a paradoxical psychological phenomenon wherein hostages express adulation and have positive feelings towards their captors that appear irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims.
It’s easy to see a corporatist pattern in Obama’s approach to legislation over the first sixteen months of his administration. Just look at health insurance reform (ditching the public option, backroom deals with Big Pharma); financial regulation (opposing too big to fail and serious derivative reform); energy policy (subsidizing nuclear plant construction, expanding off-shore oil drilling); military defense (doubling down in Afghanistan, increasing an already bloated military budget).
The dynamic promise of hope and change that put Obama into the White House has been replaced by a corporate friendly incrementalism. Though making a difference at the margins, it leaves the existing dysfunctional systems intact, sewing the seeds for even greater systemic breakdowns in the future. To see how just corporate friendly these “reforms” are, one need only check the increase in the stock prices of the effected companies once the broad outlines of the respective “reforms” emerged. Expect to see the same thing when an energy bill is finally passed.
But as the major financial “reforms” of the Clinton Administration has proved, namely repeal of Glass-Steagal, which dismantled the firewall between conservative commercial banking and high risk financial products; and The Commodities Futures Modernization Act, which made massive oil speculation and companies like Enron possible, short term gains can produce long term socio-political-economic disaster.
The risk for same is insured by the revolving door that exists between industry and government, an arrangement that puts corporate friendly staffers in charge of regulatory oversight. Recall that the medical insurance reform bill was largely the one originally submitted by Senator Max Baucus. He in turn praised his lead staff person, Liz Fowler, a former Wellpoint VP, for doing the lion’s share of the work. If she follows the established pattern, she’ll either return to Wellpoint or find a lucrative position with a K Street lobbying firm.
In normal times, Obama’s bi-partisan, deferential approach to law making might have served him and the country well. But these are desperate times, even more dangerous than the challenges presented by the Great Depression. FDR knew who the bad guys were and confronted them head on, inviting their hate. He put forth and executed a bold and comprehensive plan for economic growth and social stabilization (WPA, Social Security). He didn’t hire the very people who had caused the problem, nor did he send his chief of staff to make backroom deals with them.
In normal times, Obama’s cool, detach affect might likewise have served him and the country well. Though his intellectual appreciation for the quality of empathy was demonstrated by his selection of Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court, his personal response to the Gulf oil catastrophe these last few weeks shows he lacks Bill Clinton‘s natural empathic “I feel your pain” quality of connecting with those most affected.
And what was up with his staff choosing to show him picking up dime sized bits of hardly recognizable tar on a beach that BP had rushed to clean in advance, tripling the amount of personnel? Why not put him in a small boat in the oil soaked marshes and let him dip a blue gloved hand into that disgusting, toxic goo, showing him sniffing it and recoiling from the smell? How come they didn’t inform him immediately of the resignation of the head of the MMS, making him look uninformed during his first press conference in 10 months? Couldn’t they have rescheduled this week’s photo ops with two sports teams at the White House, and his political fundraisers in California?
Freakin’ tone deaf this administration, I fear, is. Obama looks no more in command of his own staff than he does of the government’s response to the disaster unfolding in the Gulf. That includes the Coast Guard’s often contradictory statements to the media.
Is it just me or does Obama looks like he’s being bitch slapped by BP, which has continuously misled him and the American people about the true scale of the tragedy? I felt the same way when Obama was stood up by the three top Wall Street banksters a few months back when he invited them to the White House to discuss the need for regulatory reform. I’d bet that FDR would have ripped them a new one.
Flash test: In light of the biggest rip off in financial history, in the 18 months since the bottom fell out: (1) How many Wall Street banksters have been indicted? (2) How many have gone to jail? If you answered none to both, go to the head of the class.
While Obama’s intelligence and attention to detail has been a refreshing and necessary relief from the eight long years of Bush’s bumbling incompetence and swaggering cowboy personality, it might yet prove inadequate to weather a perfect storm of: economic stagnation; huge budget deficits; the military quagmires in Afghanistan and Iraq (whose combined costs reaches the trillion dollar mark this weekend); the looming environmental catastrophe to the entire Gulf ecosystem; accelerating global heating; an extremely polarized electorate; a failing education system; serious infrastructure degradation– the list goes on.
Given all that, we are probably expecting too much from any one man. He has my prayers and my sympathy. But if he’s going to win a second term AND not be saddled by a Rethuglican controlled House of Senate, he’s going to have to make some quick adjustments.
He could start by shaking up his immediate staff, including Rahm Emanuel (who’s been sunning himself in Israel these last few days); fire Ken Salazar at The Department of the Interior (whose nomination was fiercely opposed by environmentalists, for very good reasons we are seeing); and get rid of Wall Street insiders like Larry Summers and Timmy Geithner who are busy behind the scenes screwing the pooch of financial regulatory reform. Instead, Obama’s gone in the opposite direction, succumbing to the pressure of demagogues like Glenn Beck by firing the one guy who could be using the Gulf tragedy to implement real energy policy reform, Van Jones.
Obama could show he is standing up to the Grand Obstructionist Party by making more recess appointments, something that Bush and Karl Rove did with demonstrable glee. He could lean on Attorney General Eric Holder to start criminal investigations of the Wall Street banksters; as well as BP for lying to the government about its safety and cleanup plans, not to mention negligent homicide.
In short, Obama needs to change his game. Mr. President: Stop shooting comfortable threes from outside the arc. Start throwing some elbows, crash the boards, score from the paint, stuff the ball through the hoop, and look out below.
These are desperate time and we are in dire straits. A joint Gallup-USA Today poll released last Monday shows that 53% of Americans rate your handling of the oil disaster “poor” or “very poor.” Just remember:
Sometimes you’re the windshield,
Sometime you’re the bug.
Sometimes you’re the Louisville slugger baby,
Sometimes you’re the ball.
Sometimes it all comes together baby,
Sometimes you’re going to lose it allWell it’s a strange old game – you learn it slow
one step forward and it’s back to go
You’re standing on the throttle
You’re standing on the brakes
In the groove ’til you make a mistakeSometimes you’re the windshield
Sometimes you’re the bug
Sometimes it all comes together baby
Sometimes you’re a fool in love
Sometimes you’re the Louisville slugger
Sometimes you’re the ball
Sometimes it all comes together baby
Sometimes you’re going to lose it allYou gotta know happy – you gotta know glad
Because you’re gonna know lonely
And you’re gonna know bad
When you’re rippin’ and a ridin’
And you’re coming on strong
You start slippin’ and slidin’
And it all goes wrong becauseSometimes you’re the windshield
Sometimes you’re the bug
Sometimes it all comes together baby
Sometimes you’re a fool in love
Sometimes you’re the Louisville slugger baby
Sometimes you’re the ball
Sometimes it all comes together baby
Sometimes you’re going to lose it allOne day you got the glory
One day you got none
One day you’re a diamond
And then you’re a stone
Everything can change
In the blink of an eye
So let the good times roll
Before we say goodbye, becauseSometimes you’re the windshield
Sometimes you’re the bug
Sometimes it all comes together baby
Sometimes you’re a fool in love
Sometimes you’re the Louisville slugger baby
Sometimes you’re the ball
Sometimes it all comes together baby
Sometimes you’re going to lose it all
[Song and lyrics by the incomparable Mark Knopfler]
