It’s hard for a lay reader to evaluate whether the new bank bailout is well-considered or has a chance to work. But it’s pretty easy to see that the political framing of this chapter is a miserable failure, and the responsibility for that resides with one Barack Obama, President.
Obama seems to have concluded that the winning formula for electoral triumph directly translates into the best way to run the country, that is, steady, plodding consistency without too much attention to the ups and downs of the polls. Under normal circumstances he might be right.
But these aren’t. The country is facing a populist revolt that is simultaneously encouraging and dangerous. The mobs getting out their pitchforks to skewer the gamblers and usurers who’ve ripped us off for decades are certainly to be applauded for finally catching on. But they can just as easily be whipped into a frenzy by Sara Palin as by Jon Stewart.
If Obama doesn’t channel this righteous anger into some serious paddling of the rich and their bloated institutions and some quick relief for the underdogs, it will very quickly shift course and come after him. There’s plenty of pent-up hostility to Obama and his liberal program that is just waiting for an opening.
Obama is obviously unwilling to jettison his first economic team just weeks into the new administration, but he could do himself (and us) a favor by locking the completely inadequate Geithner and Summers into a broomcloset and finding a new face to front for his program. Even some additional visibility from Paul Volcker or another roundtable with a broader mix of experts would provide much needed balance.
Bankers, bad; working stiffs, good. That’s the narrative out here and across the land. Obama has a big chance to show us which side he’s on. He better not blow it.
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