Barack Obama is to be paid $400,000 (£312,000) to speak at a healthcare conference organised by the Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, despite his criticism of the finance sector when he was US president.Giving speeches for a lot of money is what Dubya said he would do and he has done.
I guess it's just capitalism. And it's not corrupt, for other than persuasion, ex-presidents have no power or any real influence.
But it does have a bit of an odor to it. To some degree, cashing in on public service seems a bit unseemly. It has for a long time.
All this makes Harry Truman's brand of morality and ethics seem quaint.
It's refreshing to see rich companies paying for access to a man who won't try to change the government in their favor, and in fact CAN'T do that. Spend away!
ReplyDeleteNan...you mean O'bama (our 1st Irish President) can't use his influence FOR NOW in exchange for that sweet sweet cash.
ReplyDeleteMcCullough also recounts that Truman had to borrow money from one of the Cabinet bluebloods to pay for the move back to Independence.
ReplyDeleteAs long as they wait until they're out of office to cash in, I don't care. I've had to lower all my standards for Trumputin and his spawn.
ReplyDeleteEx-Presidents wield no power but a little influence. But a future ex-President has enormous power. That's the problem. It stinks of a fee for services rendered. Deferred payment, in installments.
ReplyDeleteIt was actually a big freakin' deal when Reagan took huge speaking fees from Japanese companies a year after leaving office. Even some Republicans were aghast, or pretended to be. It looked like a payoff. I swear I remember this, it was broadly considered by the Washington establishment to be an unacceptable appearance of conflict of interest.
Then both Bushes and Clinton followed suit and now it's another one of those "new normal" things we're all just supposed to accept.