All Posts Tagged With: "responsibility"

Barack Obama was interviewed by Barbara Walters for a special that’s airing tonight on ABC. TPM had advance excerpts from that interview:

BARBARA WALTERS: How did you feel when you read about the three heads of the auto companies taking private planes to Washington?

BARACK OBAMA: Well, I thought maybe they’re a little tone deaf to what’s happening in America right now. And this has been a chronic problem, not just for the auto industry, I mean, we’re sort of focused on them. But I think it’s been a problem for the captains of industry, generally.

When people are pulling down hundred-million-dollar bonuses on Wall Street, and taking enormous risks with other people’s money, that indicates a sense that you don’t have any perspective on what’s happening to ordinary Americans. When the auto makers are getting paid far more than their counterparts at Toyota, or at Honda, and yet, they’re losing money a lot faster than Japanese auto makers are, that tells me that they’re not seeing what’s going on out there, and one of the things I hope my presidency helps to usher in is a, a return to an ethic of responsibility.

That if you’re placed in a position of power, then you’ve got responsibilities to your workers. You’ve got a responsibility to your community. Your share holders. That if — there’s got to be a point where you say, ‘You know what, I have enough, and now I’m in this position of responsibility, let me make sure that I’m doing right by people, and, and acting in a way that is responsible.’ And that’s true, by the way, for members of Congress, that’s true for the president, that’s true for Cabinet members, that’s true for parents.

I want all of us to start thinking a little bit more, not just about what’s good for me, but let’s start thinking about what’s good for our children, what’s good for our country. The more we do that, the better off we’re going to be.

WALTERS: Should bank executives — it’s almost Christmas time — forgo their bonuses?

OBAMA: I think they should. That’s an example of taking responsibility. I think that if you are already worth tens of millions of dollars, and you are having to lay off workers, the least you can do is say, “I’m willing to make some sacrifice as well, because I recognize that there are people who are a lot less well off, who are going through some pretty tough times.”

[Stepping up onto my soapbox.]

Who is to blame for the wrong track that 81 percent of Americans believe this country is on? For everything that seems to be going wrong — the endless war, the faltering economy, out-of-control federal spending, ineffectual government — who can we point our finger at?

The American electorate should look no further than the mirror. We are the enablers that have helped make this happen. Our leaders are (at least in theory) elected. They didn’t get their job by coup, by inheritance (although the Bushes and Clintons are certainly trying to make the presidency a dynastic one), or by appointment by the ruling elite (ignoring the inordinate influence of Corporate America). They are in office because we, the American electorate, put them there.

The world was astonished that after the first four years of this administration and its disastrous policies that we would put them back into office for another four years. The Daily Mirror‘s famous cover the day after Bush was re-elected captured the international reaction: “How can 59,054,087 people be so DUMB?” I couldn’t have agreed more.

To quote the president: “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” (This quote has more impact when you watch it.)

How could nearly 60 million voters re-elect a failed president? I still shake my head to this day. But, I find myself increasingly unsympathetic when some of those who voted for the president complain about our predicament today. I confess that I voted for George W. Bush in 2000… “fool me once.” I didn’t make that mistake again. For those of us who were fooled a second time, “shame on me.” Continued