For re-appointing Ben Bernanke to be Chair of the Federal Reserve. As I said at the time, Obama is taking bows for re-appointing the man who, if he didn't lead the country into the crisis, at least peacefully ushered it in. Bill Greider, at The Nation, had a similarly disloyal thought:
The Federal Reserve did not "avert disaster" for many millions of Americans. It helped to cause their disaster. The central bank, as I have written, was co-author of the destruction, along with the reckless financiers of Wall Street. Now we are told to feel good about its heroic efforts to clean up their mess.All in all, I guess we should be grateful Obama didn't appoint that sexist, feckless, sack of shit Larry Summers.
The personalized narrative is the standard approach the establishment uses to disarm substantive critics and divert public opinion. Create a fictionalized drama about the wise leaders who manage "to do the right thing" in the face of horrendous adversity and wrongheaded political opposition. Remember Alan Greenspan celebrated as the Maestro. Or Time's "Committee to Save the World" cover after the 1998 Asian financial crisis -- picturing Robert Rubin, Alan Greenspan and Larry Summers as our saviors. Now it is Gentle Ben to the rescue.
Larry Summers looks like he's taken lessons in gluttony and dissolute living. If any man in public life today, other than perhaps Miss Prissy McConnell of Kentucky, has an unhealthier visage and countenance than Summers, I don't know who it is. If Summers were to suddenly perish (suddenly perish the thought!), they'd have to inter the fat, ugly fuck in a piano crate.
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