SocraticGadfly: Obama on ‘60 Minutes’ – has Geithner sandbagged him?

March 22, 2009

Obama on ‘60 Minutes’ – has Geithner sandbagged him?

Thursday, he told Jay Leno on “The Tonight Shows” he was “stunned” by the bonuses themselves. Three nights later, he tells Steve Kroft on “60 Minutes” that, regarding public reaction to the bonuses, “I wasn't surprised by it. Our team wasn't surprised by it.”

Well, since everybody now knows that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has lied about when he first knew about the bonuses, we have a bit of a quandary here.

Did Obama also know early? Nobody’s directly asked him that question yet.

Or, did Geithner sandbag him?

Or was it just an honest slip-up by an overtaxed Geithner?

I think Option 2, perhaps, being charitable, with a bit of Option 3 in the mix, is the most likely.

That said, Obama also indicated he’s listening to long-term budget worries, and told Kroft, in essence, there’s a limit to what the government can spend.

Obama later tipped his hand that he might continue to be Bush Light on the War on Terror, however he renames it or its participants:
Now-- do these folks deserve Miranda rights? Do they deserve to be treated like a shoplifter-- down the block? Of course not.

Unfortunately, in asking about the war in Afghanistan, Kroft asked not a word about the expansion of Bagram Air Base into Gitmo 2.0.

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