Barack Obama is a narcissist, which is never to be confused with a socialist. Obama cares not for the proletariat...his contempt towards average Americans is boundless. Rather, the Obama administration exists to benefit Obama. While the president is closer philosophically to Che Guevara than to Thomas Jefferson, it is not philosophy that dictates his policies. Obama governs using the Chicago model on which he was politically weaned: “You scratch my back, or I break yours.”
Those who submit to Obama receive taxpayer-funded kickbacks, and that litany of winners begins with General Electric. Using a loophole in the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program, the president has permitted GE Capital to raise $80 billion while paying artificially low interest rates subsidized by the American people. Such patronage constitutes fulfillment of the illicit quid pro quo that defines the Obama regime.
Without support from the media subsidiaries of General Electric, Obama would not be president. In 2008, NBC News and MSNBC functioned as the propaganda wings of the Obama campaign. On NBC, the race was presented as a contest between the charismatic agent of change and the tired old fart who represented the corrupt party of failure. On MSNBC, McCain scandals were regularly concocted, the classic example being the Keith Olbermann diatribe lambasting the Republican nominee for running racist commercials that featured the Washington Monument and Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Neither edifice had previously been considered a racist symbol, and neither appeared in a McCain ad. However, the Obama/GE strategy was to divert the electorate's attention from Obama's extremist record and nefarious personal associations. General Electric perceived an opportunity to reap tremendous benefits if Obama were elected, and so GE media outlets assisted the conglomerate's preferred candidate. That decision will prove tragically short-sighted when Obamanomics rupture the capitalist system. However, Corporate America's time horizon is now dictated by quarterly earnings reports, and for the time being General Electric is making out like a bandit.
So is Goldman Sachs, which has received billions from the Troubled Asset Relief Program designed to bail out failing financial institutions. That rescue money has gone to a company in no need of being rescued: Goldman recently reported record earnings. As other Wall Street firms struggle to survive, Goldman Sachs is thriving because it aligned with Obama.
During 2008, past and present Goldman executives shook the corporate money tree for the Democrat. The company became the second largest financial contributor to a campaign that was ostensibly hostile to the Fortune 500. Goldman alumni such as Robert Rubin and Lawrence Summers also provided the inexperienced Obama with credibility by publicly lauding his economic acumen.
The company's return on investment will be mind-boggling. Its foremost legislative goal was passage of Cap-And-Trade, the lucrative scam that combats nonexistent global warming by empowering Wall Street firms to administer carbon credits. Obama prioritized ramming the legislation through Congress, and as a result Goldman will soon be dominating a new market worth more than a trillion dollars.
Among the other prominent organizational and corporate collaborators receiving administration largesse are:
- ACORN, the quintessential left-wing community organization that illegally registered voters on Obama's behalf and is being rewarded with a massive increase in its taxpayer funding.
- Chevron Texaco, the quintessential multinational conglomerate that supported Obama and consequently still administers the Iraqi oilfields despite the candidate's promise that he would promptly return those fields to the Iraqi people.
- The Service Employees International Union, which contributed over thirty million dollars to Obama and on whose behalf he attempted to extort California taxpayers. State officials were threatened that any budgetary cuts adversely affecting SEIU employees would result in California forfeiting a $7 billion federal stimulus grant.
- Berkshire Hathaway, whose Chairman Warren Buffett aggressively supported Obama. Since the inauguration, the financial institutions contained in Berkshire's portfolio have received priority treatment. Ninety-one percent of California-bound TARP funds have gone to banks in which Berkshire is the largest shareholder.
- Hamas, the genocidal anti-Semitic terrorist group that illegally raised funds for the Obama campaign and is now receiving an infusion of American taxpayer money totaling $900 million.
- Time Warner, which contributed more than half a million dollars to Obama and deployed its Time Magazine subsidiary to promote him as a “centrist” despite his voting record being the Senate's most liberal. In exchange for the communication conglomerate's unswerving allegiance, Obama has appointed five Time Warner executives to his administration, where they will have input on legislation affecting...the communications industry.
While most Americans are suffering financially, Obama's major contributors are enjoying taxpayer-provided prosperity. Some of his accomplices are corporate, while others are anti-corporate. The common denominator is that all have pledged fealty to Dear Leader. The diplomatic term is “reciprocity”, which sounds so much better than “pay for play”. It should come as little surprise that a Chicago machine politician governs like a mafioso.
While the lofty rhetoric is that Obama seeks to redistribute wealth from greedy to needy, the putrid reality is that he redistributes wealth from foe to friend.
The theft of Chrysler provides an instructive example. Obama circumvented bankruptcy law to seize creditors' assets and gift them to the United Auto Workers. Such brazen larceny conveys an unmistakable message: those who financially support Obama receive the property of those who do not financially support Obama. There has always been patronage in politics, but until now America didn't resemble a Third World kleptocracy.
The legacy of the patriots interred in Arlington National Cemetery is that they selflessly sacrificed everything to benefit their country. Barack Obama's legacy will be that he eagerly sacrificed his country to benefit himself. The President of The United States is a stranger to patriotism, and the nation he leads is suffering as a result.
David Podvin is a California-based commentator. For the past decade, he has analyzed politics in essays that have appeared internationally. Podvin is actively involved in the field of animal rescue. He can be reached at podvin@dslextreme.com. 
