No duh! White House “worried about bailout backlash”

By Michelle Malkin
from Michelle Malkin.com
March 16, 2009 10:05 AM

With a few notable exceptions, the national media has ignored the tax revolt movement against the porkulus package, omni-pork spending bill, and bottomless bailouts that began in Seattle on President’s Day; continued in Denver on the day of the Generational Theft Act signing; spread to Mesa AZ during President Obama’s massive mortgage entitlement push; spurred protest in Overland Park KS; and evolved into the Tea Party movement across the country.

But local politicians and local newspapers/TV are definitely on notice. Thousands of folks converging in places like St. Louis (1,500), Greenville (2,000), Fullerton (est. 15,000), and Cincinnati (5,000) are getting harder to ignore.

And now, it seems, word is getting around in Washington. The White House, the NYTimes (which has mocked the tax revolters) tells us, is worried about a populist backlash against bailout-mania. Naw. Really? You don’t say:

“Bracing for a Bailout Backlash”

The Obama administration is increasingly concerned about a populist backlash against banks and Wall Street, worried that anger at financial institutions could also end up being directed at Congress and the White House and could complicate President Obama’s agenda.

The administration’s sharp rebuke of the American International Group on Sunday for handing out $165 million in executive bonuses — Lawrence H. Summers, director of the president’s National Economic Council, described it as “outrageous” on “This Week” on ABC — marks the latest effort by the White House to distance itself from abuses that could feed potentially disruptive public anger.

“We’ve got enormous problems that need to be addressed,” David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, said in an interview. “And it’s hard to address because there’s a lot of anger about the irresponsibility that led us to this point.”

“This has been welling up for a long time,” he said.

Starting to get a clue:

For all his political skills and his capturing of the nation’s desire for change in the 2008 election, Mr. Obama, a product of Harvard Law School who calls upscale Hyde Park in Chicago home, has shown little inclination to strike a more populist tone. The danger, aides said, is that if he were to become identified as an advocate for the banks and Wall Street, people could take out their anger on him.

“The change now is you have a free-floating economic anxiety that has expressed itself in a kind of lashing out at those being bailed out and people who are bailing out,” Michael Kazin, a professor at Georgetown University who has written extensively on populism. “There’s not really a sense of what the solution is.”

“I do think there’s a potential for a ‘damn everybody in power’ kind of sentiment,” Mr. Kazin said.

“Potential?”

It’s here, baby. Open your eyes. More Cincy Tea Party photos via RWNJ:

Via WCPO, making the message crystal-clear:

Tea party supporters say their reasons for demonstrating on Fountain Square are simple.

“To actually show the state and federal government that we’re displeased with the way that they’re handling our money. That’s our money,” said George Piper.

And: “This is not a Democrat thing. Or a Republican thing. It’s a government thing.”

Wait until April 15…
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Huge: Thousands converge for Cincinnati Tea Party - This is Great! America is waking up!

from Michelle Malkin.com
by Michelle Malkin
March 15, 2009


pictures from Twitpic

What are you doing? Go to Tax Day Tea Party and get moving!

Eric Cranley live-tweeted. A sample:

A friend of mine brought his 5 year old son, holding a sign saying, “Even a 5 year old knows socialism is stealing”

Good sign: “Tar. Feathers. Washington. Now.”

“My recommendation is that people look no further than the halls of Congress to find the stench of pork”

Unlike the Los Angeles Times, the Cincinnati Enquirer actually covered the tax revolters without trashing them:

Thousands of people filled Fountain Square this afternoon for the Cincinnati Tea Party, a grassroots-effort designed to show their disapproval for bailouts and the massive federal stimulus plan.

People wore Revolution-era costumes and raised anti-bailout signs with messages like “Give us Liberty, not debt” and “No more bailouts.”

Sean Lynch was one of thousands who navigated the crowd.

“I’m frustrated with the way things are going in Congress. They need to remember that they work for us, and right now, we don’t approve,” said Lynch, of Colerain. “This is not a Democrat thing or a Republican thing. It’s a government thing.”

Lynch brought his children to the demonstration and hoped that one day, when they’re older, they’ll understand the importance of taking a stand. His 8-year-old, Isabel, held a “Stop spending my allowance” sign and 5-year-old Kate raised a “Stay out of my piggy bank” sign.

“I don’t think anything is going to change overnight,” Lynch said. “But this is a start.”
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