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April 22, 2010

Obama vs. Goldman: The Latest Round

By Michael Shaw

<p><span style="font-size: x-small;">Natalie Behring/Reuters</span></p> <script type="text/javascript">AKPC_IDS += "12169,";</script>

Natalie Behring/Reuters

Volcker, Pritzker, Rahm look pained during Obama lecture to Wall Street
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Maybe it’s because Obama’s latest Wall Street lecture took place on their turf, not his.  Perhaps Team Obama is simply channeling the boss’s frustration.  Or maybe Rahm, Pritzker and Volcker understand that actually regulating, versus tongue-lashing, Wall Street is going to cost — especially with the SEC now taking on Goldman for fraud.

However you explain these expressions, it’s notable how this morning’s photos of Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs’ head honcho, all conveyed the most open, warm, cooperative, engaging, and winning face.


Jim Young/Reuters

Before chalking it all up to hubris, though, Goldman’s latest numbers demonstrate winning still comes pretty easy these days.

( caption 1: Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein (R) and his colleague Gary Cohn (L), president and COO, attend a speech by U.S. President Barack Obama about new financial regulation at Cooper Union in New York April 22, 2010. Obama scolded Wall Street on Thursday for its “furious efforts” to fight tighter regulation, saying the United States was doomed to another financial crisis if reforms were not implemented. )

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  • Books Alive

    Blankfein here does look like someone who thinks his company is “‘doing God’s work,’ (because banks raise money for companies who employ people and make things).” This is found in 13 Bankers, and comes from a Nov. 8, 2009 article in The Sunday Times (London) called “I’m Doing ‘God’s Work.’” Meet Mr. Goldman Sachs.” That was then, of course. Now he’s blustering about being unfairly accused and browbeaten.

    The employees are ready to defend their actions, according to this NYT article. A photo of Mr. Cohn, the company president, shows him demonstrating what I take to be this defensiveness:

  • Gasho

    Obama’s attempt to right the wrongs here might work in the long run, but this guy hardly looks like he’s being tarred and feathered.. looks more like he’s just had his nuts dipped in chocolate or something.

    If he’s a white collar criminal, who bilked investors out of Billions of dollars and now he’s been caught — wtf. I don’t even know what to say. I’m sickened by his ear to ear grin. Really.

  • Adam

    Blankfein needs to keep the confidence up. It is a key component to a confidence game. The more telling look for me is from his colleague Cohn. This guy know the world is watching, looking for blood in the water, making political judgments, and that GS’s stock price is already falling.

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