A President is not the Fed Chairman
by digby
I think we've figured out why so many of us are dismayed by the administration's obscure economic policy and it's not what we thought. Yesterday, Obama was reportedly "testy" when congressional Democrats begged him to be be more forceful with the Republicans, snapping "I know how to negotiate." But then he said this:
"He said, 'There's a difference between me and a member of Congress,'" another lawmaker said, paraphrasing the president as saying: "When I say something the markets react, all of society reacts, other countries react. I've got to be careful with what I say. I can't just say it for brinkmanship. I've got to say it in a way so that I get what I want said, but I don't upset markets and so on."
That's very odd since countries, markets and all of society knows that he's a political figure. moreover, he's going to be running for re-election which would seem to require him to be willing to engage in hyperbole. Does he believe that fierce campaigning will cause the markets to collapse because if he does it's going to be a long campaign.
No, I think what's happened is that he's confused himself with Ben Bernanke. It's the Fed chief whose every utterance causes countries and markets to flutter, not the president, whose political identity is well factored in. This could explain a lot, particularly his apparent comfort with the current state of the economy. Perhaps like Bernanke he doesn't acknowledge unemployment as a part of his portfolio and is mainly concerned with inflation and the health of the financial sector, both of which are doing fine.
I'm being facetious, obviously. But Obama's excuse for not being more aggressive is nonsense. The president is a political leader and everyone knows it. Nobody in the world would be surprised if he were to confront the lunatic opposition.
His job, along with the congress, is to produce good policy for the nation and whatever they're doing economically isn't working very well. A little humility is called for.
Update: And what exactly does this mean, do you suppose?
Obama responded that he has to be more careful and more considered than that, and that he is executing an existing plan.
I find it fairly hard to believe that 9.1 unemployment in June of 2011 is part of his plan. But hey, maybe it's some more of that 38 dimensional chess thing.
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