Has a 'Katrina Moment' Arrived?

[cali]

A Charming visit with Jay Leno won’t fix it. A 90 percent tax on bankers’ bonuses won’t fix it. Firing Timothy Geithner won’t fix it. Unless and until Barack Obama addresses the full depth of Americans’ anger with his full arsenal of policy smarts and political gifts, his presidency and, worse, our economy will be paralyzed. It would be foolish to dismiss as hyperbole the stark warning delivered by Paulette Altmaier of Cupertino, Calif., in a letter to the editor published by The Times last week: “President Obama may not realize it yet, but his Katrina moment has arrived.”

<snip>

To get ahead of the anger, Obama must do what he has repeatedly promised but not always done: make everything about his economic policies transparent and hold every player accountable. His administration must start actually answering the questions that officials like Geithner and Summers routinely duck.

Inquiring Americans have the right to know why it took six months for us to learn (some of) what A.I.G. did with our money. We need to understand why some of that money was used to bail out foreign banks. And why Goldman, which declared that its potential losses with A.I.G. were “immaterial,” nonetheless got the largest-known A.I.G. handout of taxpayers’ cash ($12.9 billion) while also receiving a TARP bailout. We need to be told why retention bonuses went to some 50 bankers who not only were in the toxic A.I.G. unit but who left despite the “retention” jackpots. We must be told why taxpayers have so little control of the bailed-out financial institutions that we now own some or most of. And where are the M.R.I.’s from those “stress tests” the Treasury Department is giving those banks?

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http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/22/opinion/22rich.html&OQ=_rQ3D3Q26refQ3Dopinion&OP=6c0742e0Q2FQ205uQ5CQ20SQ3F_Q7BQ2AQ3FQ3F20Q200iiQ3EQ20iQ2FQ2000Q20Q3FxQ7DZQ7DQ3FZQ2000Q2AQ7D_Q60AQ602JQ23


I may not like the piece's title, but I think Rich makes some excellent points

[bullimiami]

1. frank rich, go F(&* yourself.

obama is trying to deal with what was left him.
bushco threw money around everywhere with no oversight and no strings attached.

[Tommy_J]

4. Right on

[icnorth]

2. Unless and until the political process

is changed, unless and until the corporate lobbyists are restricted from free wheeling through the halls of power in Washington nothing will change. When a politician's future depends on corporate funding, the lobbyists will always have access to the decision makers with their message either expressed or implied: "You owe me. I own you."

[CJCRANE]

No.

He's confusing media chatter with reality.

[CJCRANE]

3. dupe.

[D-Lee]

5. Let's stop talking about "moments," and move on to broader considerations

OK, the finger is in the dike.

The Katrina and 9/11 analogies are getting old -- and the Repugs were in charge when those analogies were apt.

Let's have some broad reflection and less thinking that some snap of the fingers is an answer here.

[biopowertoday]

6. Yes, he does make many good points. As Donna Brazile said

asked today--who is in charge in this administration? Geithner? Summers? Obama?

[Jennicut]

7. This was posted like two times already.

[Uzybone]

8. If the levees broke 2 days before Bush was inaugurated

then he would have a semblance of a point with the Katrina quip. That was an unfair slam in an other wise fair piece.

[boston bean]

9. The title doesn't bother me so much

in katrina, people lost their homes, livelyhoods and jobs and gov't was asleep at the switch. It was a complete failure of people in government. So I think the comparison is apt.