Another Bankster at the White House

When President Obama last January announced the departure of Rahm Emanuel as White House Chief of Staff, many liberals were furious that his replacement was the Midwest Chairman of JP Morgan and Boeing Director William Daley, who was also an opponent of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and a critic of Obama’s health care bill as too leftist.

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Yesterday, the White House announced Daley’s departure — he will now co-Chair Obama’s re-election campaign, which basically means raising huge amounts of money from his Wall Street friends.

  Glenn Greenwald

You can’t say President #Compromise isn’t forward thinking when he chooses his appointments.

So let’s have a look at the new Chief of Staff, Jacob Lew (previously serving as a top aide to Hillary Clinton).

President Barack Obama's choice to lead the White House budget office oversaw a Citigroup unit that profited off the housing collapse and financial crisis by investing in a hedge fund king who correctly predicted the eventual subprime meltdown and now finds himself involved in the center of the U.S. government's fraud case against Goldman Sachs.

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[His unit made] investments in a hedge fund that bet on the housing market to collapse -- a reality suffered by millions of American homeowners.

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That sounds pretty nasty, doesn't it?" said Gary Bass, executive director of OMB Watch, a group that monitors the budget office. "Any activity and any player that contributed to the economic calamity needs to be looked at.

"We already got enough players in this administration that certainly were key players in the economic malaise that we currently have," Bass continued. "Why shouldn't we have another one?" he said with a slight chuckle.

But Bass added that he thought Lew was an otherwise excellent choice for the position, noting that as budget director Lew has a proven track record (he held the position during part of the Clinton administration).

  Huffington Post

Sure. Crooks can be good at their regular jobs, can’t they?

"Obviously, Jack has been through a vetting process before," [WH Press Sec Robert] Gibbs told a reporter who had asked whether Obama ever questioned Lew about his work at Citigroup. Gibbs eventually said he didn't know.

Asked if Lew's time at Citigroup was "relevant" and whether it would be "relevant" during his next confirmation hearing, Gibbs said that "those questions have been dealt with."

Indeed.

And, as a result of Lew’s unit’s losses, Citi got that huge bailout ($45 billion) from the taxpayers, Lew himself receiving a $1 billion salary and a $900,000 post-bailout bonus.

And why would Obama question Lew about his work at Citigroup? He already knows. They just shuffle these guys around amongst themselves up there in the Big House.

In case you’ve forgotten, Mother Jones listed the banksters and financial fraudsters who were brought directly from their roles in the financial collapse into the Obama administration. You can read it here.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.