It’s hard to focus on anything in national politics right now other than the Republicans’ attack on health care, but I can’t shake off my frustration with the former president.
Frustration and deep, deep disappointment.
I don’t know how I thought Barack Obama would spend the first year after leaving the White House. Certainly public speaking, on issues he cares deeply about, would be logical. But I sure never imagined this:
Obama is being paid $400,000 for a single speech at a health-care conference sponsored by the investment banking firm Cantor Fitzgerald.
Media reports say the event is private, so you and I likely won’t learn what he says (unless somebody surreptitiously records it and posts it online). Who’ll be there to hear him? Cantor Fitzgerald, says the New York Times, “hopes to woo wealthy investors, mutual fund representatives, and hedge fund executives to the conference.”
The Cantor Fitzgerald folks aren’t paying Obama for his speaking ability. They’re not paying him because the firm’s leaders think he’ll say something newsworthy about health care. They’re not paying him out of the goodness of their hearts in order to educate the wealthy investors, mutual fund reps, and hedge fund execs who show up.
They’re paying Barack Obama just to be there. So the wealthy investors, mutual fund reps, and hedge fund execs can say they’ve heard him, have been part of an exclusive group in the very same room with him.
They’re paying him to burnish the image of Cantor Fitzgerald. To score points with those wealthy investors, mutual fund reps, and hedge fund execs.
To make money for Cantor Fitzgerald.
Barack Obama is selling his face, his presence, his aura, for $400,000 a pop. And he’s worth $400,000 for one reason only: because the American people elected him president.
I am absolutely dismayed.
Some Obama supporters have argued that there’s nothing wrong with Obama accepting that kind of fee. Cantor Fitzgerald isn’t paying him in order to curry favors, those supporters say. It’s not trying to bribe him so he’ll support policies that’ll benefit them. He’s no longer in office, and he won’t be running for elected office in the future. So the money’s clean.
Balderdash. That’s not the problem.
First of all, there’s a point at which, morally, enough money is simply enough. More is, well, obscene. And $400,000 for a single speech is obscene. (And yes, so is the $60 million that Penguin Random House is paying Barack and Michele Obama for a book deal.)
Perhaps just as serious: Obama has done a great disservice to his political party. The Democrats had been attracting not only young voters recently but also young people interested in being involved in politics. Bernie Sanders had managed to reignite the young-voter enthusiasm that Obama had generated. Many of those voters stuck with the Democratic Party for the general election, despite their very grave concerns about Hillary Clinton.
Clinton had seemed too elitist, too removed from the concerns of ordinary people. Too tied to wealthy interests. Republicans weren’t the only voters with those concerns, and Clinton’s closed-door speeches to Wall Street firms magnified the problem.
(Note that in the key states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, enough voters chose Green Party candidate Jill Stein that it cost Clinton the Electoral College vote.)
The Democratic Party desperately needs to change its message – and its heart. Barack Obama could have led that change. But his post-presidency deals make him look like a Clinton Democrat, not a Democrat of hope and change.
I know, I know: Why shouldn’t our first black president get to cash in like other former presidents? Why the higher standard for a black former president than for a white one?
But there’s no “higher standard.” It’s the same standard. The former presidents who cashed in on their voter-granted fame failed to meet it. Now Obama has, too.
This article appears in May 10-16, 2017.
How did this guy ever even get elected Dog Catcher? Oh yeah. The press never did their job, which is to be inquisitive, ask questions. Barack Obama has STILL never been vetted by the main stream media. Will it ever happen?
I am embarrassed by this editorial. In a world where every day new allegations are made against men who are actively promoting evil, flouting public will and burying our children’s and grandchildren’s futures for a quick buck,– these men who are IN POWER, mind you– you choose to single out the best president of the lifetimes of most of us, one moreover who has distinguished himself by his virtue and compassion, all because he chooses to get fair market value for a speech. No, I am not embarrassed by the strident naivete of this piece. I am embarrassed and ashamed.
It’s the height of hypocrisy for President Obama to have assailed Wall Street Greed for 8 years and then to accept a speaking fee of 400 K from them.
It would be comparable to a Republican President who constantly defended 2nd Amendment rights accepting large payments from the Gun Control lobby after leaving office.
For both, it would be a slap in the face to their former base.
There is nothing I dislike more than a hypocrite. President Obama is now a hypocrite.
I disagree. I think the problem with Obama, as president and now is that he was and is not interesting enough. I hate Trump, but he is interesting, maybe for the wrong reasons, but he is interesting. We remember Trump”s Tweets, but not Obama’s speeches.
In 2004, Barak Obama delivered his famous speech about “red states, blue states and the United States.” That was before he got elected. We remember him for “Obama Care” and Osama Bin Laden, but during most of his presidency, he was rather blah, I think.
The word ALOOF comes to mind. If you rearrange the letters, you get A FOOL.
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Pres. Obama is very smart, but he made a stupid mistake by being dull and ALOOF.
As a result of dullness, Hillary lost and now we have to cope with Trump.
I hope that Obama’s paid speeches will become exciting and memorable, now!
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Is he supposed to fry burgers at McDonalds? He has big plans for social serviceand needs money to do that. He’s making that money legally. Why are you holding him to some saintly standard?
Kathryn – You’re right, I can’t imagine why two top Democrats in Warren and Sanders would criticize him at all… It’s not like he’s been anti-Wall Street his entire career or anything….
As Tom and others have said, he’s a hypocrite now. You can’t chastise Wall Street while holding your hand out to get a big fat check from them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-z9jeCi3B…
In the War among the Neo-Cons and Liberals Obama is dam if he does and dam is he doesn’t. The entire country is a hypocrisy which speaks of fairness and justice yet its actions are far from it. After the Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush Sr. the nation once again voted for Bush Jr expecting a different result. Anyone with half of a Historical Brain knew the outcome hence Credit Default Swaps. Here we are 12 years later doing the same yet again hoping the Great White saint will yet again short of slavery generate prosperity by taking from the Poor. Amazing, your biggest concern is some Afro American has figured out the game an is able to prosper as opposed to walking behind master with his hands out? is this truly your biggest concern, if so the definition is surely Crazy
Obama is now in the same boat with the 3 Clinton’s: Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea. I guess you could say that Obama is now working as a spokesperson for Cantor Fitzgerald. He’s being paid in advance. The bet is that he’ll soon be doing a great deal of talking and writing with a great many people listening. $400,000 for one speech plus having this guy in your back pocket is a bargain for the super-rich. Shame on you Barack Obama for selling out to Wall Street.
Shortly after that speech, he spoke at a conference on climate change in Milan. UK newspapers have reported that he was paid about $3 million. Was it a delayed payoff, or is he that wonderful a speaker? It is impossible to verify the actual amount paid, as both he and the sponsor are refusing to discuss it, but given that media like the NYT has shown zero interest, you can be sure it was a lot. The rich may say a lot of things, but you can be sure that they will take care of each other.