I have a friend who, as we talked about the upcoming season of Bolshoi ballet at the Met a few years ago, said: “Kirov is Kirov but Bolshoi is Bolshoi!” The same can be applied to Goldman and Obama. Goldman maybe good, Goldman maybe the best there is. But for every wise ass out there there’s a left-hand screw. Obama might as well turn out to be Goldman’s screw. But not for the reasons you think. Allow me to elaborate.
Goldman was the biggest Obama donor when he was running for president. This fact is being brought up very often in the last few days. Now picture the typical reaction of a typical politician when such fact becomes known. First he denies it, then when that doesn’t work he tries to give money back, after which he proceeds to do the donor’s bidding anyway. What Obama did is breathtaking (in a good sense). He
a) Said, yeah, I got the money from Goldman;
b) And no, I’m not giving it back;
c) And I’m going after Goldman regardless. And on top of that I’m asking them to join me in my fight.
What balls! How refreshing! It’s becoming more and more evident to me that he and his team not only know what they’re doing, they have read and memorized all the right books. Democrats, who have gotten accustomed to take it on the chin, have learned not only to attack but mastered such a subtle mockery that I’m sure puts Lloyd Blankfein in silent rage stemming from sudden feeling of helplessness and lack of control over the situation – a new set of emotions for a man like him.
My suspicions about Obama’s team were confirmed the other day by another friend of mine, no stranger to strategic moves himself – a deft poker player, a champion bridge player and shrewd businessman. Between spits and curses (he’s no fan of Obama), he admitted that Sun Tzu and Nicholo M are the table books for Obama’s team. They play by the book, he said, and that’s what will bring them down, he added. I exercised that possibility in my head, but then I thought that, at a very minimum, they must have an opponent who plays by the book. So far the opposition plays checkers to Obama’s Grandmaster level chess. Honestly, I’d be delighted to see Republicans’ strategy expanding from willfully pretending not to understand what’s written in the bill. But it seems now that it’s the only thing that comes to their mind.