Obama White House: No Stranger to Intimidation Tactics, Rhetoric

[ABOVE: White House calling]

March 2009
WHITE HOUSE to HESITANT FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS:
“NICE LITTLE BUSINESS YOU HAVE HERE
I’D HATE TO SEE ANYTHING HAPPEN TO IT…”

HAS THE WHITE HOUSE ALREADY BECOME CHICAGO EAST?

Hundreds of thousands of words have been written lately about enemies lists and the tactics of the Obama administration. Most are of two sorts: 1-concern/outrage over the power of the federal government at political opponents (The Chicago Way); and/or, 2-surprise that this would take place in an administration that promised to bring everyone together. This last approach is usually accompanied by an appeal to the White House’s better instincts to desist.

Back in March–when the gloss had not yet worn off the Promise-that-was-he-who-is-Obama, a meeting took place between Barack Obama and large financial institutions. What took place in that meeting should have alerted the press to the what that Promise really would be.

This writer’s interest in that meeting was first piqued by Friday’s mention in a David Gergen piece about leadership.

From David Gergen: The National Deficit—of Leadership:

Our leaders today are discovering, with a vengeance, how much followers matter. When the economic bubble burst last year, a powerful, angry uprising swept the country and moved into Washington. Obama privately told bank CEOs, “My administration is the only thing that stands between you and the pitchforks.” Obama himself was the target of a second populist uprising that came in tea parties, town halls, and public marches. Hatred hung in the air, and some worried about violence.

What an odd remark: “My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”

It’s certainly colorful and memorable enough.

From Obama the Pitchfork Operator: A Remake of the Soviet Classic:

“My administration is the only thing between you and the pitchforks,” Barack Obama told the CEOs of the world’s most powerful financial institutions on March 27, when they cited competition for talent in an international market as justification for paying higher salaries to their employees.

Arrayed around a long mahogany table in the White House state dining room, the bankers struggled to make themselves clear to the president, but he wasn’t in a mood to hear them out. He interrupted them by saying, “Be careful how you make those statements, gentlemen. The public isn’t buying that.”

Although today, the context of the remark is much better understood, the article’s author, Oleg Atbashian, goes on to explain what Obama meant.

To get the full flavor of the president’s implication we must remember that in Obama’s code language, the word “pitchforks” means “a vigorous campaign of threats and intimidation perpetrated by Obama-sponsored ACORN and union activists in conjunction with theatrical outrage from government officials, amplified by the complicit media, and coordinated from one political center, which has now moved to the White House.”

Accordingly, the words “public” and “the people” denote “an appearance of broad popular movement created by a small but highly organized band of professional pitchfork operators (ACORN) who rely on the government funding and the media’s eagerness to present their deliberately planned actions and pre-fabricated messages as heartfelt and spontaneous.”

It’s much easier to see after all of the attempted intimidation of political opponents that’s occurred–and more importantly, has been reported on–what that remark really meant.

Translation: “Nice little financial business you have here, boys. I’d hate to see anything happen to it, you know? Maybe you need a friend? Maybe you need some insurance, you know what I’m saying?”

That this is SOP for the Obama White House should not have surprised seasoned political watchers. After all, Obama was proud of his community organizer background–even if most Americans thought “community organizing” meant holding bake sales or cleaning up trash around public housing.

Obama had been careful to disassociate himself from ACORN. But still, at the end of the day, he still claimed to be a community organizer.

And he was from Chicago. As was Rahm Emanuel: he of sending a “dead fish” to an opponent fame.

Intimidation? Barack Obama would admit to knowing how to spell it, but otherwise, he knows nothing of intimidation. But, after only nine months, Americans are finding out the President has more than a passing relationship with “intimidation”.

Maybe there should have been more critical coverage of that March meeting in the press? Hard to tell. After all, there was still a large reservoir of goodwill towards our new Commander-in-Chief then.

But now, after the events of the last two months?

The East Room or East Chicago: it’s getting harder to tell the difference.

by Mondo Frazier
images:
* www.punjabiportal.com/

Tags: Barack Obama, CEOs, Chicago, financial institutions, GANGSTERS, intimidation, March 2009, meeting, pitchforks, rhetoric, tactics, Way, White House