RUSH: Remember when Obama met with the bank CEOs? Details have now emerged from the meeting, and according to the Politico.com: ‘The bankers struggled to make themselves clear to the president of the United States. Arrayed around a long mahogany table in the White House state dining room last week, the CEOs of the most powerful financial institutions in the world offered several explanations for paying high salaries to their employees — and, by extension, to themselves.’ Now, I’m sure that went on, but I cannot believe the only reason they were in there was to justify compensation packages. But, that’s how it’s portrayed. So the CEOs go in to Obama’s White House, sit there at a long mahogany table, State Department dining room, and start trying to convince him why they need to earn so much money.
”These are complicated companies,’ one CEO said. Offered another: ‘We’re competing for talent on an international market.’ But President Barack Obama wasn’t in a mood to hear them out.’ Now, we know this has to be true. I’m sure this was leaked from the White House, ’cause the Drive-By Media is just taking dictation these days. So I’m sure this is a White House-sourced story, and you will have no doubt when you hear the quote attributed to President Obama. ‘President Barack Obama wasn’t in a mood to hear them out. He stopped the conversation, and offered a blunt reminder of the public’s reaction to such explanations. ‘Be careful how you make those statements, gentlemen. The public isn’t buying that.’
‘My administration,’ the president added, ‘is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.” Barack Obama quoted in The Politico story as saying to the bank CEOs, ‘Be careful. My administration is the only thing standing between you and the pitchforks,’ meaning the mob. The mob that President Obama stoked, the mob that he fueled, the mob that he and his buddies at ACORN inspired to protest AIG, their offices, and the executives of the homes. ‘The fresh details of the meeting — some never before revealed — come from an account provided to Politico by one of the participants. A second source inside the meeting confirmed the details, and two other sources familiar with the meeting offered additional information. The accounts demonstrate that despite the public comments on both sides that the meeting was cordial, the tone in the room was in fact one of mutual wariness. The titans of finance — men used to being the most powerful man in almost any room — sized up a new president who made clear in ways big and small that he expected them to change their ways.’
My God, I’m outta words. I am literally out of words to describe my anger and trepidation over what is happening here. I know, I know, they all took bailout money. I know many of them were forced to take bailout money. But to be dragged in there and to have the president of the United States threaten you, ‘Hey, the only thing standing between you and the pitchforks is me,’ meaning you better accede to what I want or you might get mobbed, the American people are ready to hang you and burn you at the stake, for all intents and purposes. I thought Obama was a great listener. Isn’t that the PR, President Obama a great, great listener out there, who would listen to all points of view before offering his own, demand that everybody speak out, calling on people to make sure that they do, not like Bush, who was very stubborn. My administration is the only thing standing between you and the pitchforks. And then it goes on to say that President Obama told the CEOs exactly what he expects from them, because he is running their business. (sigh)