Obama and Wall Street: I Love You! I Hate You!

In old movies (and a lot of new ones too), there is the usual formula of romantic tension between the leading man and the leading lady. They usually start out hating each other but ultimately find themselves drawn to each other. This usually culminates in a climactic argument, during which the woman expresses her total contempt and disdain for the man: “I hate you!” He then grabs her, pulls her close, and plants a big, passionate kiss on her. She, of course, succumbs, and the two then declare their undying love for each other.

President Obama and the Democrats are engaged in this coy Love-Hate faux drama with Goldman Sachs and the rest of Wall Street. Obama has railed continually against the “fat cats” on the Street, whom he blames loudly and repeatedly for the financial crisis. They do, of course, bear some of the responsibility. But wouldn’t it be nice and refreshing to hear him level

his ire at the ACTUAL main perpetrators of the crisis: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Of course, he can’t do that, because that would mean admitting fault with the social engineering of the Jimmy “My Name is Earl” Carter and Bill “Bubba” Clinton-supported Community Re-Investment Act and other misguided and destructive left-wing economic policies.

No, he’s stuck to the safe script: the surefire populist message that all of the banks are bad, Goldman is the worst of the worst, and that they need to be spanked like a Terrible Twos Terror Child.

Just one problem: Obama accepted nearly $1 million from Goldman folks during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Other top Democrats have long been raking it in from Goldman and other big banks they now demonize as greedy, profit-driven Anti-Christs. Earlier this year, the president of Goldman hosted a fundraiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, which netted him $37,000. When reporters asked him about that yesterday, he read haltingly from a written statement and then ran away.

This is yet another case of the hypocrisy of the Left. They blister the banks and seek to punish them, while at the same time slurping like pigs at the banks’ trough.

I hate you! I love you! Kiss me, you fool!