PrintMarch 18, 2009
Obama doesn't want to waste anger either
When asked how he would quell people's anger over the AIG bonuses, he dismissed the question:
Obama: "I don't want to quell anger, I want to channel it" to do constructive things.
This was at an impromptu news conference before his trip to Hollywood.
The historical record of charismatic leaders who heighten and channel anger is not very promising.
This philosophy is straight out of the Saul Alinsky textbook: how to rile up the masses.
This is why it is important to pry our President from the teleprompter. He reveals his true feelings and plans in off the cuff remarks.
As President he should realize that financial aid to the industry is crucial to help it right itself-and thus crucial to the American economy. Calmly explaining to the public what needs to be done is necessary to make it "safe" for Congress to extend such help.
Someone also asked him about the timeline: when did he know? He also dismissed that question as basically being a distraction. He clearly wants to obscure the fact that he and his people knew about these bonuses quite a while ago (as this ABC News report makes clear.
He knows how, as the New York Post wrote in an editorial today, to "Manufacture Outrage".
