Goldman Sachs was Obama's biggest campaign contributor?

[rollingrock]

that's what I keep hearing from Michael Moore. Though Goldman may have been his single largest private donor, by far the bulk of his campaign contributions, over half a billion dollars, came from small individual donors from middle and lower class citizens.

According to opensecrets.com, Goldman Sachs contributed about $1,000,000 to the 2008 Obama campaign through a Political action committee. So if the huge bulk of BO's campaign funds came from individual private citizens, why does Goldman, AIG, drug companies, etc. always get the priority red carpet treatment, basically getting everything they want from the WH at the snap of a finger, while the people are basically relegated to the back of the line?

And if I recall correctly, didn't Obama promise many times over during the campaign that he would not be accepting donations from Political action committees? So why did his biggest individual donations come from PACs? (according to opensecrets.com) Gee, what happened to that promise?

[JVS]

1. University of California was the biggest.

And I'm kind of disappointed that they aren't getting the kind of clout that G&S does!

[rollingrock]

2. I know

but GS was the largest private contributor.

[virgogal]

3. I stopped believing most politicians years ago.

[Ruby the Liberal]

4. IIRC, he said he won't take money from lobbyists

Please correct me if I am wrong.

Not that there is any arms length separation between the two...

[rollingrock]

7. It seems to be both

“I’ve sent a strong signal in this campaign by refusing the contributions of registered federal lobbyists and PACs and today,” Mr. Obama told an audience in Bristol, Va. “I’m announcing that going forward, the Democratic National Committee will uphold the same standard and won’t take another dime from Washington lobbyists or special interest PACs. They do not fund my campaign. They will not fund our party.”

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/06/05/obama-camp-sets-new-money-guidelines/

[Ruby the Liberal]

10. Thanks! nt

[bbinacan]

5. Many promises have been broken.

No new taxes for those making less than 250K.

No transparency in government. What happened to bills being posted on the internet and the open discussions on C-Span?

[rollingrock]

6. That was probably the biggest reason why I voted for Obama

the promises of transparency, especially the thing he said about all the talks being held on C-span, that was the clincher for me. He made some very specific promises and seemed so sincere at the time, including the big one about taking no money from PACs, etc. Damn, what a letdown!

[rhett o rick]

17. Wait, wait, wait just a minute. You are implying that if Obama hadnt made these

promises you would have voted for McDipShit? Bull-pucky. We all wanted to believe in his promises but we should have recognized that they were promises by a politician running for election. I still have faith that he is doing what he can.

Are you sorry you voted for him????

[rollingrock]

20. If he hadn't made all those sincere-sounding promises

I would not have voted at all.

'We all wanted to believe in his promises but we should have recognized that they were promises by a politician.'

What a cop-out. People vote for you because they are convinced you will do as you say. Otherwise they just stay at home. And obviously, millions of people were truly convinced by Obama's words because they not only voted for him but actively campaigned for and donated hundreds of millions of dollars to his campaign, volunteering large amounts of personal time, money and energy. No one does all those things unless they are truly inspired by the things you say.

If you don't live up to your word, nobody can ever trust you. I find it amazing how you seem to find it acceptable to just say anything to get elected. To me, a man is only as good as his word. Without that, he is nothing but a charlatan.

[rhett o rick]

25. Isnt it bad enough that the republcants are doing everything they can

to derail this President without Democrats helping them. President Obama needs us to help him undo the mess caused by eight years of bush-shit.

[cliffordu]

9. When did he increase the taxes on anyone making less than 250k??

[bbinacan]

12. Taxes on tobacco and

alcohol. And if you believe that our taxes won't be going up as a result of HCR, you're walking around blind without a cane.

[cliffordu]

19. Yet another fine du'er predicting the future....

so: smoke and drink all you want.

Payroll taxes and income tax was what he was talking about and you know it.

You lie for purposes I don't understand

[NYC_SKP]

22. Tobacco and Alcohol, are you fucking kidding me???? Bull Shit. Fox-newsish of you to say...

These do not count, and neither would gas taxes to fix roads or any number of other examples.

Taxes on income, that's what he meant.

:eyes:

[msongs]

8. good thing no goldman sachs people were hired into top level govt positions lololol nt

[NightWatcher]

11. and is Goldman Sachs getting what they paid for? (aw crap, really?)

Adam Storch, vice president in Goldman Sachs’ Business Intelligence Group, is the latest to be added to the Obama financial team, picked to be the COO of the enforcement division of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a new position at the SEC.

<snip>

Other high level financial positions held in the Obama administration by former Goldman Sachs executives are Neel Kashkari, heading the TARP bailout; Mark Patterson, Chief of Staff for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner; Gary Gensler, top executive at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission; and finally Goldman has its top lobbyist, Michael Paese, Rep. Barney Frank’s top aide, who is the chair of the House Financial Services Committee.

http://www.americanbankingnews.com/2009/10/19/is-goldman-sachs-nysegs-obamas-personal-financial-farm-team/

and I'm out. No more defending him on the Economy...lets add that to Afghanistan and what else....


And dont you dare call me a freeper. No one called me a freeper when I was knocking on doors for him going back to February 2009 or donating (when my taxable revenues for 08 (and 09) put me below the poverty line) to him and the cause. Dont you dare. This is called "criticism".

[SemiCharmedQuark]

13. The SEC is an independent body and THEY chose Storch.

The SEC is made up of 5 people, 4 appointed by Bush and 1 appointed by Obama and is bipartisan with 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats.

[rollingrock]

14. Another one those special waiver deals?

how many are we up to now? I think I lost count.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

15. Did you not read what I wrote? The SEC is an INDEPENDENT body. Obama has no authority over them

other than replacing them as they step down. He has only had one person step down. So the SEC is now made up of 4 Bush appointees and 1 Obama appointee. 3 Republicans and 2 Democrats.

[rollingrock]

16. Neel Kashkari

'Other high level financial positions held in the Obama administration by former Goldman Sachs executives are Neel Kashkari, heading the TARP bailout'


I had to do a double-take when I read that. It's almost too hard to believe how naked the the corruption can be. Holy cow.

[Mimosa]

18. Why aren't I surprised?

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss....

I volunteered and contributed to Obama's victory. But I should've known. Big money rules.

[NYC_SKP]

23. I aren't surprised either....pfffft ...having read your very clever "Meet the new boss.." reply..

roll that up real tight, will ya?

[rollingrock]

24. I agree

but then again, the small individual donor comprised the great bulk of the record amounts of campaign funds he was able to raise. what was it at least half a billion?

For our half billion, what did the small donors get? not even a pony?

Goldman spent only a million and got what? Billions and billions in cash, within weeks. Even the best stocks on Wall Street can't get you that kind of return on investment.

so there's that paradox.

[Joe Fields]

21. About a year ago I did a thread showing the top five corporate contributors

to the leaders of the house and the senate, plus all of the presidential candidates. In virtually all of the cases the players were the same five. Goldman was always there among the top.