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Pres Obama now doing $400k speeches for Wall Street

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Effect

Member
How is taking their money to speak to them hypocritical?

Wouldn't that depend on the content of the speech?

It always depends on the content of the speech but some people sadly don't give a fuck about that. Context and content don't matter to them. They hear Wall Street and lose their damn minds as if making money is an evil thing. As if those working on Wall Street aren't people with everyday lives and families. Even when some content of Hillary's speeches were leak and there was nothing bad in them those same people didn't care. All they cared about was "Wall Street" as if it was a catch all. Damn purity test by people that have no real understanding of what they're demonizing and when they do picking the wrong damn people to attack. These people (Obama and Clinton) worked their asses off for decades, gained tons of unique experiences, and could actually have a lot things worth listening to. However their time isn't cheap and free unless they want it to be.

I say let the man make money. If people want to pay for the privilege to hear him talk and hear his experiences then fine. If he and Michele are getting book deals then good for them. I look forward to reading them.

When I see liberals having a fit about stuff like this I really wish they would shut the fuck up and go away. Pick your damn battles and stop acting stupid on things like this.
 

Amir0x

Banned
I'm on the subway right now shaking my head in disbelief in some of the mental gymnastics at display here. I'll respond to every reply after work later.

lol. Meus calling others on mental gymnastics, the same dude who regularly twists his brain in knots to justify every insane conspiracy theory.

cant wait to watch this
 

wildfire

Banned
He endorsed the bail out and never punished the executives who led us into the recession.


This doesn't surprise me and it shouldn't be a shock for anyone else.



That said it's not the biggest deal getting paid some serious cash.


We don't know what conditions come with getting that money.


If they ate serious and there is decent enough circumstantial evidence then I would discuss this topic more earnestly.
 

kirblar

Member
Eh, I understand that position, but continuing to build connections he can fundraise off of is actually a reasonable tactic for fighting the current administration and working on his own pet projects.
The idea that you can crowdfund everything is absolute nonsense, as evidenced by both Obama and Sanders struggling to maintain that cashflow once they weren't running for office anymore.
 

Chumley

Banned
What's indefensible is the person who used this line of attack in the first place.

Bernie Sanders? His movement is real whether you like it or not and the Wall Street stuff stuck, that line of attack resonated for good reasons and isn't going away. The inequality gap keeps getting worse and there's really no way to spin Obama doing this as a good thing in context with that. It's hypocrisy.
 

Vestal

Gold Member
This.

If he intends to be a major part of the party it's indefensible to do this after all the shit this kind of thing stirred up in 2016.

This holier than thou shit needs to stop. The man served as President for 8 years and was dragged through the mud each one of the days he was President. Let the man get paid. If someone is willing to pay him 400k for a speech so be it.

If I am some sort of consultant for wall street getting paid 6 figures, does that some how make me unable to serve in public life? Does it make me unable to differentiate between right and wrong?

I mean FFS, we elected a fucking self professed billionaire to the highest office in the land, and you think our Former President is some how doing something wrong for getting paid what the market values him for speeches?
 

Acorn

Member
On a serious note he's doing a charity speech and Q&A free here for his foundation and some local charities. He's good by me, some of the crazy multi thousand pound seats are being put aside for local talented kids.
 

Amir0x

Banned
Bernie Sanders? His movement is real whether you like it or not and the Wall Street stuff stuck, that line of attack resonated for good reasons and isn't going away. The inequality gap keeps getting worse and there's really no way to spin Obama doing this as a good thing in context with that. It's hypocrisy.

his "movement", from the same folks who brought you his "revolution."
 
This is a non-controversy. He is not running for elected office ever again. If someone is stupid enough to offer you $400,000 for like two hours of work you are insane not to take that deal. Don't lie and pretend you wouldn't out of principle.
 

B-Dubs

No Scrubs
Never again will I mention Fox News' Facebook comments as proof that politics has become a team sport.

Now this is good.

This is a non-controversy. He is not running for elected office ever again. If someone is stupid enough to offer you $400,000 for like two hours of work you are insane not to take that deal. Don't lie and pretend you wouldn't out of principle.

Seriously and he's got two college age kids who are going Ivy League. If this pays for a year or two's tuition why would he not take it?
 
The conference he's speaking for is a healthcare industry conference and he passed the most progressive healthcare legislation in American history. He's probably going to use the speech to help shore up support for the ACA among the donor class.

Like seriously, the guy works his ass off his entire life, becomes POTUS and suffers 8 years of largely racially based animus from mouth-breathing bumpkins and now suddenly he's an example of everything that's wrong with American politics?

Fuck off. Some of you guys are seriously out there.

For many, he didn't do nearly enough during the recession. Presuming his spotless record within the audience is a fault in framing.

That is also to say that the opposite is indeed a fault in framing.

Thus--the interesting conflict.
 

LaNaranja

Member
I'm well aware. Obama made it seem like he was going to hang around and be a strong counterpoint to Trump, and work on some issues he cares about like gerrymandering. Taking money from Wall Street undercuts that.

A single $400K speech can pay a living wage (+benefits) for a couple of people. I have a hard time seeing why people would take issue with this if he takes this money and uses it to employ people at one of his projects. Or hell, even if he takes the money and keeps it, who gives a shit? Not like Wall Street is hurting for money.
 
Bernie Sanders? His movement is real whether you like it or not and the Wall Street stuff stuck, that line of attack resonated for good reasons and isn't going away. The inequality gap keeps getting worse and there's really no way to spin Obama doing this as a good thing in context with that. It's hypocrisy.

It's only hypocrisy if Warren or Sanders does it.

Obama never claimed to be anti-Wall Street in the same way those two do, he was always for increased regulation, not a wholesale gutting of the investment industry.

Y'know, like most intelligent people.
 
Why does this matter? You think him speaking is going to change nothing.. except take money out of the hands of Wall Street and into the hands of a charitable activist. Sounds terrible.

Terrible? You're putting words in my mouth. Disappointing? Sure. Counterproductive for an ex-president who has pledged to remain politically active? Likely so.
 

kirblar

Member
Bernie Sanders? His movement is real whether you like it or not and the Wall Street stuff stuck, that line of attack resonated for good reasons and isn't going away. The inequality gap keeps getting worse and there's really no way to spin Obama doing this as a good thing in context with that. It's hypocrisy.
No one votes on Income Inequality! Look at the past 4 GOP Presidents! They're all super rich motherfuckers! We're not winning elections on that angle. It doesn't' work!

Bernie Sanders is not the leader of the party, is not the future of the party.

You fight a gunfight w/ a goddamn gun. The GOP has a massive fundraising edge on it, and I'm all for Obama promoting nightclubs and giving shitty speeches in order to help keep our campaigns going nationwide.
 

SlimySnake

Flashless at the Golden Globes
He endorsed the bail out and never punished the executives who led us into the recession.


This doesn't surprise me and it shouldn't be a shock for anyone else.



That said it's not the biggest deal getting paid some serious cash.


We don't know what conditions come with getting that money.


If they ate serious and there is decent enough circumstantial evidence then I would discuss this topic more earnestly.
if he doesn't vote for the bailout you are living on the streets like a hobo during the great depression 2.0.

And thanks to Bush deregulating wall street there were no laws Obama could've used to punish these guys.

This is so fucking stupid. This is why she lost.
 

Mahadev

Member
Are you telling me that the president that protected the criminal bankers any way he could and was generally a neoliberal puppet, is getting rewarded now by these scumbags?

Absolutely shocking.
 

KHarvey16

Member
Terrible? You're putting words in my mouth. Disappointing? Sure. Counterproductive for an ex-president who has pledged to remain politically active? Likely so.

I love the self justification. "It's only counterproductive if people make it into a big deal, so I'll make it into a big deal because it's counterproductive."
 
Free market economy. He's the most sought after living former president for speaking gigs so $400K seems about right. It should go down a bit after time passes, but in this current political climate, people are hungry for some encouraging stump by Barry
 
Paid speeches might be the dumbest controversy from the election cycle. People are more stressed out over possible influence from being paid for a performance than they are over Citizens United and our completely fucked campaign finance system? Okay.
 
No one votes on Income Inequality! Look at the past 4 GOP Presidents! They're all super rich motherfuckers! We're not winning elections on that angle. It doesn't' work!

Bernie Sanders is not the leader of the party, is not the future of the party.

You fight a gunfight w/ a goddamn gun. The GOP has a massive fundraising edge on it, and I'm all for Obama promoting nightclubs and giving shitty speeches in order to help keep our campaigns going nationwide.

No one votes for thre GOP based on income inequality, they definitely do when it comes to Democrats who are held to a higher standard than the GOP is in that regard.
 

DietRob

i've been begging for over 5 years.
Bernie Sanders? His movement is real whether you like it or not and the Wall Street stuff stuck, that line of attack resonated for good reasons and isn't going away. The inequality gap keeps getting worse and there's really no way to spin Obama doing this as a good thing in context with that. It's hypocrisy.

There is absolutely a way to spin it.

Obama is taking money from the wall street fat cats and funneling it into charities or election campaigns of Democrats to win back the house.

See? I've spinned it for you and I'm just some dude on a message board. Professionals in the Democratic party can do much better I'm sure.

Also Bernie and his supporters aren't the future of the Democratic party. We aren't going to let pretend Democrats take over the party like the tea party did. Not gonna happen.
 

riotous

Banned
Terrible? You're putting words in my mouth. Disappointing? Sure. Counterproductive for an ex-president who has pledged to remain politically active? Likely so.

I wasn't claiming you called it terrible. (ironically you claiming I put words into your mouth... is.. well)

I just see nothing remotely wrong with being paid to speak places; it wasn't wrong for Hilary either. It was always a lame attack.
 
I think $400k is cheap, he should charge more.

It is weird how people look for things to be critical of. OMG a lefty has two homes, or a big carbon footprint, or gets paid to speak to wall street. That *completely invalidates* his views on ecology, global warming, or how self-serving wall street is. No, it doesn't.

If you're searching for hypocrisy, take a long hard look at Trump. There is amazing hypocrisy for miles. Come back to small fry like ex-presidential speaking tours, when you've done all you can to bring Trump down.
 

Sinfamy

Member
Why do people get so bent out of shape about paid speaking events? Its literally nothing.
Because it's the revolving door of political corruption.
You do corporations favors, they pay you back afterwards thorough "speeches" and lobbying posts.
Or they just pay you upfront though the same methods and expect favors from you later.
You have to be completely ignorant to think that the good old folks on Wall Street want to hear Obama talk about his views on what the marginal tax bracket should be.
 

jviggy43

Member
I don't see what's wrong with people pointing out the hypocrisy of this even if it is ubiquitous for politicians. There's a difference between understanding the reality of these things and wishing it were better. Especially since we hold him to a pretty high standard in the first place.
 

kirblar

Member
No one votes for thre GOP based on income inequality, they definitely do when it comes to Democrats who are held to a higher standard than the GOP is in that regard.
No one votes on income inequality, period. It just does not move people to the polls.
 
Don't really care. This is not erasing his legacy.

Obstructionist politics and literal facists in the WH are the things that can be attributed to erasing his legacy.

Man deserves to get paid. If it comes out that his speeches are just him verbally fellating Wall Street then I will have an issue and I wouldn't have an issue calling him hypocritical.

At this point, it really is too early to make any value judgments IMO.
 
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