It's not public service. I have no clue what you're even talking about mentioning that. I don't feel lucky that he's cashing in on 8 years of serving the interests of Wall Street over the American people's.

Um, actually, yes, he did say it at the 2010 SOTU address. I paraphrased, but it's right there in the article I linked to which quotes it directly.

Nope, sorry, your chronology is off. He started pushing austerity and deficit reduction as a major theme in his 2010 SOTU speech.

Totally agree about the first part. Somewhat agree with the second.

The ones made by Godzilla?

Touché.

What kind of sounds and noises?

The start of collecting on his payoffs! Please, people, read the thread going back like three whole comments before jumping in.

But to your point, I think the book is very convincing that in the particular instance of Obama coming into office riding a huge wave of populist fervor immediately on the heels of the GFC, he had a lot of leeway to get a lot done. The moment was right. He could've done a lot more if he'd wanted. He just didn't.

I'm starting to suspect that many within the Democratic Party are content with being the Washington Generals - paid to lose.

"It's difficult to overstate how dire the situation was."

I personally have a problem with it and object to your linking that position with not following politics closely.

Fair enough, and one thing I will say is that the problem is not just him, it is much broader and deeper with the entire Democratic Party. It's just that he explicitly sold himself as an agent of change and turned out to be anything but.

Just the start.

Mannequin Pussy - Romantic
This band is like METZ but with a lot more genre blending and a female vocalist. In other words, my dream band.

If I were a president or former president, I'd like to think I'd have some more regard for maintaining - or restoring - public faith in our democracy.

I don't especially feel like going into a detailed discussion complete with multiple sources and all that right now, so suffice to say for the moment that I think he really did not give a shit about ordinary middle class people recovering from the recession, and he missed a ton of opportunities to make real,…

He is receiving the payouts for past services rendered. They are making good so that others will take their promises seriously in the future. Keeping up their credit rating with the political class, as it were.

If he wanted to do a lot of good for the country, he might've started while he was in office.

He made the donation announcement after there was backlash for the speaking fee, and the $400K is for one single speech. There will be many more. Do the math.