A Presidential Rebuke Sans Ice Water
Last Friday, the CEOs of 15 of the biggest banks headed to Washington to meet with the president and discuss the financial crisis and the rising anger and frustration on the part of the public. The attendees went to great lengths to describe the meeting as friendly and productive. But it was hard to imagine how warm and fuzzy it could have been given it was also painfully clear that much of the frustration had been exacerbated by the banks themselves by, say, taking billions from Washington and then spending it things like new office suites. Well, it turns out it wasn't such a fun encounter after all, according to one person who attended the session and described what went down to Politico.
According to the source, instead of accepting some responsibility for what's happened in recent months, the bankers tried to brush off the criticism by, among other things, telling the president that what they do is really complicated—suggesting, of course, that it may be a bit over President Obama's head. It was an approach that didn't go down very well, not surprisingly:
But President Barack Obama wasn't in a mood to hear them out. He stopped the conversation and offered a blunt reminder of the public's reaction to such explanations. "Be careful how you make those statements, gentlemen. The public isn't buying that." "My administration," the president added, "is the only thing between you and the pitchforks."
Ouch! But it wasn't just the president's words that communicated his attitude. As we suspected, the glasses of water were a big sign:
At each place around the table sat a single glass of water. No ice. For those who finished their glass, no refills were offered.
No word on whether it was tap or bottled, but we're going to assume it was the former.
