http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/cnb ... 110203.asp

Tuesday, Mar 03

NBC's Tom Costello, on duty at the White House today, asked press secretary Robert Gibbs about some comments made by his CNBC colleague Jim Cramer. On the Today show this morning, Cramer called Pres. Obama's budget a "radical agenda," adding, "This is the greatest wealth destruction I've seen by a President."

"I'm not entirely sure what he's pointing to to make some of the statements," said Gibbs. "And you can go back and look at any number of statements he's made in the past about the economy and wonder where some of the back-up for those are too."

When pressed further by Costello, Gibbs said, "If you turn on a certain program it's geared to a very small audience. No offense to my good friends, or friend at CNBC. But the President has to look out for the broader economy and the broader population."

Last month Gibbs had some choice words for Cramer's colleague, Rick Santelli and his criticism of the Obama mortgage plan.

[snip]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... id=topnews

Obama's Bear Market

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 4, 2009; 9:54 AM

It was 7:05 yesterday morning, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, when Jim Cramer shorted Barack Obama.

This wasn't Cramer the hothead, off on a rant about some stock. It wasn't Cramer the flamethrower, as I'd seen him behave as a hedge-fund manager, winning or losing millions within minutes, when I was writing a book about Wall Street.

No, the Mad Money man was calm and composed as he accused Obama of pursuing a "radical agenda." This, he said, "is the greatest wealth destruction I've seen by a president."

The reason this is noteworthy is that Cramer is a liberal Democrat who, for example, strongly backed his former Goldman Sachs colleague Jon Corzine for New Jersey governor.

I'm not sure it holds up to blame Obama for the market swoon five weeks after he inherited an economic disaster. But if Cramer is doing just that, the parameters of the debate are shifting.

You could see it at yesterday's Gordon Brown photo op, when Obama said that stocks were a good long-term investment. You could see it at the White House briefing, where ABC's Jake Tapper asked: "Is the president at all concerned that what he's selling, Wall Street just isn't buying?"

[snip]

I sincerely doubt it. Teh One has an agenda, and it doesn't include policies that promote people succeeding financially by their own efforts. He's more into "fairness." It isn't "fair" that some people make a lot more money than others, so he's going to level the playing field. He even said that he doesn't care that lower capital gains taxes actually increase revenue to the government than higher CG taxes; it's about "fairness."

Jeebus, we are screwed in so many ways.

http://www.mainstreet.com/article/money ... hite-house

Cramer: My Response To The White House

By Jim Cramer
March 5, 2009

[snip]

I am a fight-not-flight guy, so I was on my hackles when I heard White Press Secretary Robert Gibbs' answer to a question about my pointed criticism of the president on multiple venues, including the Today Show.

[snip]

"I'm not entirely sure what he's pointing to to make some of the statements," Gibbs said about my point that President Obama's budget may be one of the great wealth destroyers of all time. "And you can go back and look at any number of statements he's made in the past about the economy and wonder where some of the backup for those are, too."

Huh? Backup? Look at the incredible decline in the stock market, in all indices, since the inauguration of the president, with the drop accelerating when the budget plan came to light because of the massive fear and indecision the document sowed: Raising taxes on the eve of what could be a second Great Depression, destroying the profits in healthcare companies (one of the few areas still robust in the economy), tinkering with the mortgage deduction at a time when U.S. house price depreciation is behind much of the world's morass and certainly the devastation affecting our banks, and pushing an aggressive cap and trade program that could raise the price of energy for millions of people.

The market's the effect; much of what the president is fighting for is the cause. The market's signal can't be ignored. It's too palpable, too predictive to be ignored, despite the prattle that the market's predicted far more recessions than we have.

[snip]

For somebody who handled the press so well during the campaign, President Obama seems easily shaken by press criticism.

I'm pretty appalled at the amount of time the White House spends on private citizens, and yes, these are citizens in the public eye, who are criticizing Teh One's actions (or inactions). It makes them look very weak and extremely thin skinned.

I thought dissent was patriotic. I guess that has changed with the last election.

You're right - not only is "outrage" a more accurate term - its better explained - they didn't get the normal press scrutiny because the Press wanted him elected so badly.

You have to admire this sort of hard-hitting investigative journalism:


http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washing ... y-hai.html

Obama's gray hair: White House pressure or heredity?

The New York Times made quite a bit this morning about President Obama's gray hair, noting that after only 44 days in office, the president -- facing a global economic meltdown, two wars and a growing cadre of Americans who are out of work and at risk for losing their homes -- is already turning gray.

"Well, that didn’t take long," wrote the Times' Helene Cooper. "Just 44 days into the job, and President Obama is going gray."

But the truth is that Obama started going gray -- and noticeably so -- on the campaign trail, as any number of reporters commented on at the time.

Jon Swaine of Britain's Telegraph wrote in October, "As he enters the final few days of his campaign, with hundreds of sleepless nights behind him, patches of salt and pepper that have sprouted all over his head mark out Mr. Obama, now 47, as a man firmly in middle age."

[snip]