The Obama Timeline

On March 18, Obama addresses a gathering in Costa Mesa, California where he continues to drum up support for his already-passed stimulus bill by announcing the addition of an eastbound lane for SR91 in Orange County. Obama takes questions from the crowd, but to maintain his image of being a “fighter for populist causes” he addresses the issue of AIG bonuses (even though no one asks about them). When asked if he will seek re-election in 2012 Obama answers, “If I could get done what I think needs to get done in four years, even if it meant that I was only president for four years, I would rather be a good president—to take on the tough issues for four years—than a mediocre president for eight years.” Obama also tells the gathering that the issue of immigration cannot be “dealt with in pieces,” meaning he will not increase border security without also granting amnesty to illegal immigrants and making them citizens. (Immigration certainly can be addressed “in pieces.” There is no reason why the border cannot first be better patrolled, leaving other aspects of the problem for later.) [1829, 1831]

Author, columnist, editor in chief of The American Spectator, and political observer R. Emmett Tyrrell remarks that Obama “…is the most ill-prepared man to be president of the United States since Lincoln’s Vice-President Andrew Johnson abruptly became president… and Johnson had the excuse of being an alcoholic.” He adds, “Obama simply is a man without any executive experience. He has spent his time as a community organizer or agitator. He has spent some time as a lawyer for the poor. And he’s spent a lot of his time daydreaming at the University of Chicago about what Utopia ought to be like. Now he’s planning to bring Utopia down on us and it’s going to very, very expensive,” and “It’s astonishing. Imagine, the Democratic Party worries about the civil liberties of terrorists in Gitmo. I worry about the civil liberties of ordinary Americans here in the United States with people like Obama and his aides in power.” [1838]

On March 19, it is reported that it was the Samson, Alabama police chief who requested assistance from troops at Fort Rucker after a March 10 mass murder. The 22 soldiers and five vehicles were purportedly sent to Samson under a “mutual aid agreement” which Fort Rucker has with local law enforcement agencies. It is unclear how such an agreement came about or whether it is legal. [1812]

U.S. Pacific commander Admiral Timothy Keating tells Senators at a hearing there is a “high probability” that the U.S. Navy could knock down a missile North Korea is planning to launch in early April. The U.S. commander in South Korea, General Walter Sharp, says the North Korean threat “is real.” A missile launch by North Korea would be a violation of a United Nations Security Council resolution. [2092]

Senator Christopher Dodd (D-CN) continues to say that he was “completely unaware” of the AIG executive bonus payment plans, despite evidence that he sanctioned the deal. Instead, Dodd blames his staff for diluting the executive pay provision in the economic stimulus bill. Dodd claims he was “…the one who has led the fight against excessive executive compensation, often over the objections of many. I did not want to make any changes to my original Senate-passed amendment, but I did so at the request of administration officials.” Dodd refuses to name the administration officials. Dodd shamelessly blames the legislative process when he argues, “The alternative was losing, in my view, the entire section on executive excessive compensation. Given a choice, (and) this is not an uncommon occurrence here, I agreed to a modification in the legislation, reluctantly.” Dodd (whose father, the late Senator Tom Dodd, was one of few Senators ever censured for financial misconduct while in office) is up for re-election in 2010. Dodd is also under investigation for alleged sweetheart mortgage deals he received from Countrywide Financial Corporation, and currently trails his likely Republican opponent, Rob Simmons, 43 to 42 per cent. Between 2001 and 2004 Dodd’s wife, Jackie Clegg Dodd, worked for IPC Holdings, Ltd., a company affiliated with AIG. [1818, 1819, 1823, 1824, 1864, 1976]

Obama and Geithner continue to insist that they knew nothing of the AIG executive bonuses until the second week of March. Evidence suggests however that the administration and many members of Congress had known about them for months. Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs refuses to provide a timeline of “who knew what and when they knew it.” A November 2008 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) related that retention bonuses would be paid in order to keep valuable employees from leaving. Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD) states, “There was outrage brewing already. I’m saying (to AIG CEO Edward Liddy), ‘Be a good citizen, do something about this.’” Lawyers for the Federal Reserve Board also began reviewing the bonuses while examining retention and compensation plans, but concluded that the employees would probably win a lawsuit if their payments were withheld. In January 2009, Congressmen Joseph Crowley of New York and Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania had asked the Federal Reserve Board and the Treasury Department to scrutinize the bonus program, knowing that “all Hell would break loose” if they didn’t “put the information out there so we wouldn’t have the shock… ” In February, legislators removed from the stimulus legislation restrictions on bonuses negotiated before February 11, 2009. Remarkably, by mid-March everyone involved seemed surprised that AIG executives would be receiving bonuses. The stimulus bill also had a provision added by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) that would have capped bonuses at $100,000. That provision was removed, but no one will say whether that was done by top Democrats in the Senate or ordered by the Obama administration. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) remarks, “It’s shocking that the administration would come to us now and act surprised.” [1833, 1844]