Monday, February 08, 2010

Obama Loses Wall Street For Biting The Hands That Fed Him

Some choice snippets, comments and actions from "Wall Street" via NYT:

If the Democratic Party has a stronghold on Wall Street, it is JPMorgan Chase.

Its chief executive, Jamie Dimon, is a friend of President Obama’s from Chicago, a frequent White House guest and a big Democratic donor. Its vice chairman, William M. Daley, a former Clinton administration cabinet official and Obama transition adviser, comes from Chicago’s Democratic dynasty.

But this year Chase’s political action committee is sending the Democrats a pointed message. While it has contributed to some individual Democrats and state organizations, it has rebuffed solicitations from the national Democratic House and Senate campaign committees. Instead, it gave $30,000 to their Republican counterparts.


Chase wasn't the only interest group sending more to Republicans than Democrats now and this is concerning to Obama and Democrats because "Wall Street" tipped the monetary scales in Obama's 2008 presidential campaign and they, like many others, are suffering some serious buyer's remorse.

"If the president wanted to turn every Democrat on Wall Street into a Republican,” one industry lobbyist said, “he is doing everything right."

SNIP

Thomas R. Nides, a prominent Democrat who is also a Morgan Stanley executive and chairman of a major Wall Street trade group, the Securities and Financial Markets Association- "I am a big fan of the president. But even if you are a big fan, when you are the piƱata at the party, it doesn’t really feel good."



"The expectation in Washington is that ‘We can kick you around, and you are still going to give us money,’ ” said a top official at a major Wall Street firm, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of alienating the White House. "We are not going to play that game anymore."

This is what happens when you constantly bite the hand that feeds you... eventually, you stop getting fed.

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