Reportar MensajeObama's Attack on Bain Capital Backfires: The President is Campaigning Against Profit
May 23, 2012 | Rush Limbaugh
OBAMA IS THE POLITICIAN WHO HAS RECEIVED MORE $$$ FROM WALL STREET
By the end of the 2008 campaign, executives connected to Wall Street firms, such as Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Bank of America and JP Morgan dumped $15.8 million into Obama’s campaign to sweeten relations with the new president.
RUSH: This attack on Bain... I told you this was gonna happen. I told you this is why Obama wanted Romney. Way back during the Republican primaries I said Republicans are gonna nominate Romney. That's what Obama wants because of health care, and because of Wall Street. That's what Occupy Wall Street's about, going after Romney. And Obama has now come out and admitted it, that this campaign is gonna be about Bain Capital. It's backfiring everywhere you look, from Cory Booker to now Fast Eddie Rendell, governor of Pennsylvania
All these Democrats are piping in, "Wait a minute, you know, we kind of like private equity, private equity guys." They're all Democrat donors. The private equity guys, the hedge fund guys, the Bain Capitals, these are the people that invest in the states these governors like, in projects these governors need and want, and these governors particularly like these guys, and these guys donate to Democrats in large part, including to Obama.
In fact, Obama is the number one recipient of campaign cash from private equity people. Oh, yeah, he is. Even the governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, has come out and backed up Cory Booker. Everybody's backing up Cory Booker except Cory Booker, who was taken to the woodshed and had to do his little video.
RUSH: This Bain thing? We've come to find out that this Bain attack was a central -- it was one of the top three -- Obama reelection efforts. And it's backfiring on the regime!
Because it is Democrats who are coming out and defending the whole notion of private equity and Bain specifically. And you've noticed there's talk about maybe Hillary being on the ticket? Let me tell you something, you Democrats: The problem is not Biden. He is a problem, but he's not your reelection problem in 2012. Obama's your problem! If you're thinking about changing your ticket, look to the top of it. That's your problem.
RUSH: Now, did you know that last week when the Obama campaign was attacking Bain Capital, Obama collected $2 million in donations from a private equity firm, Blackstone? Obama's the number one recipient of private equity money. Bain Capital was run by a guy who was donating to Obama when Obama's ad on Bain was relevant. Romney wasn't at Bain during the time Obama's ad criticizes what Bain was doing. But, anyway, all these Democrat governors -- Deval Patrick, Fast Eddie Rendell, Cory Booker (the mayor of Newark) and others are coming forth.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait! I don't like this attack on Bain because Bain is crucial, Bain is important, and Bain gives money to Democrats!"
Now, according to the Boston Globe, "Obama has accepted $92,270 in his last two campaigns from employees of Bain Capital."
part 2
This is the Boston Globe. Employees at Bain have given Obama about $92,000. Democrat "candidates and committees have received more than $1.3 million from Bain Capital workers since the 2008 election cycle -- double the amount collected by Republicans."
So these "vampires," as Obama calls 'em -- and you know what Obama doesn't like about private equity? All they do is look for "profits." And when he says the word "profits," he spits it out practically. He doesn't like profits. He really doesn't. He thinks profit is the root of all evil. He doesn't like profits at all, and that's what he criticizes private equity for being focused on instead of creating jobs. Well, I'm sorry.
Oh, the other guy that came out is Steven Rattner, a big Democrat private equity guy. He's Pinch Sulzberger's best friend, or one of them, the New York Times publisher. Steven Rattner came out and defended private equity. He's in the business. He came out and defended Bain after Obama's attack on them, and he came out and defended the whole notion of profit-seeking.
Romney mantains that Bain Capital did create a hundred thousand jobs.
But that was in the process -- was as the result of -- companies that Bain invested in growing. But not all of them worked out. They invested in some losers. Welcome to real life! Not everybody wins in every investment. Not every investment pays off. People who understand capitalism, free markets, and risk-taking understand that. Obama, for some reason, doesn't understand it, or does and resents it. So he's out there ripping Bain Capital to shreds. Let's go back to audio sound bites. Here is from this program October 6th, 2011. Last year, obviously.
RUSH ARCHIVE: I think, folks, the regime wants to run against Mitt Romney. That's what I think. Here's what I'm thinking. When do you think these Astroturf protests were first talked about, this Occupy Wall Street thing? How long have they been in the works, do you think? I have been asking myself this, 'cause this is not spontaneous eruption here. This is a well thought out plan. ...
Protests are needed 'cause the economy sucks, and these washouts would normally be protesting a Republican president who was responsible. Now they're targeting "Wall Street" as if Wall Street's responsible for the failure of Obama's policies. That's my point: They're trying to blame the rich for these economic problems when it's Obama and they're targeting Romney as a Wall Street guy. So I think part of the reason this was concocted was to take Romney out after seeing to it that he's the nominee.
RUSH: Let's move forward. Late Monday afternoon in Chicago (this is the closing of the NATO summit), Obama had a press conference. There was a Q&A and a Bloomberg correspondent said, "Will comments from [Cory] Booker and your former auto czar, Steve Rattner, who've criticized some of these advertisements of yours, Mr. President, are they gonna cause on you to pull back a little bit against Bain? Generally, could you give us your sense of just what private equity's role in stemming job losses is as they seek a return on investment for their investors?"
part 3
OBAMA: It's important to recognize that this issue is not a, quote, distraction. I think there are folks who do good work in that area and there are times where they identify the capacity for the economy to create new jobs or new industries. But understand that their priority is to maximize profits. And that's not always going to be good for communities or businesses or workers. And the reason this is relevant to the campaign is because my opponent, Governor Romney, his main calling card for why he thinks he should be president is his business experience. When you're president, as opposed to the head of a private equity firm, then your job is not simply to maximize profits. Your job is to figure out how everybody in the country has a fair shot. So to repeat, this is not a distraction. This is what this campaign's going to be about.
RUSH: That's right. This campaign is going to be about Bain. This campaign is going to be about Romney. This campaign is gonna be about people who unfairly pursue profit. I was exactly right. I was exactly right about this last fall when I said Occupy Wall Street was put together to go after Romney. James Pethokoukis, who is over at the American Enterprise Institute, has a post at the Enterprise blog where he quotes the president here saying, "Their priority is to maximize profits, and that's not always a good thing for communities or businesses or workers." Pethokoukis says, "I think the president doesn’t fully grasp how dangerous his words are. If he had a true grasp of economic history, he would realize that it was only when business and profits and innovation began to be valued by society that we got the economic takeoff in the West that improved our average standard of living from $3 a day in 1800 to more than $100 a day today."
Now, Pethokoukis believes that when Obama, the president of the United States, starts running around denigrating, impugning, and criticizing profits and free enterprise, that it is dangerous. And he asks, maybe Obama's not fully aware of how dangerous his words are?
He's being generous, because I think Obama's doing exactly what he's doing. I think Obama knows exactly who he is. I don't think there's any question Obama's got a chip on his shoulder about capitalism and free markets, the way this country was founded. He thinks profit seeking is evil, and he thinks that everything that comes with it is evil. And he thinks that profits equal poverty. He believes that profits is money that should be kept in the pockets of the poor.
That somehow profits derive only from people being screwed, only from people getting the shaft. And so he's gonna double down on Bain no matter What Booker says, no matter what Steve Rattner says, no matter what Fast Eddie Rendell says, and no matter what Mark Warner says or Deval Patrick. He's gonna double down on it because that's what he loves. It's what he knows. It's what he's uncomfortable with. It's what he doesn't like. It's what he's passionate about.
