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The Witch Hunt Backlash Is Coming
But there won’t be as many criminal prosecutions as some are currently forecasting because, like the Republicans in Congress during the Lewinsky affair, the Democrats aren’t pristine in all of this. Senator Chris Dodd (D-Connecticut), for example, is finding that oversight isn’t easy when everything you do is being watched with savage eyes. Dodd initially denied being responsible for allowing the AIG retention bonuses to go through, but has reversed himself.
Civil suits will play out for years. Many targets will settle because their attorneys will advise them that their juries will likely be stocked with Jacobins.
Perhaps the sign that Salem 2.0 is winding down will come in the form of a latter-day Increase Mather, an “establishment” figure who proverbially says, “Are we ready to get back to work, or do we need to roll some more heads?” Quarter-century-old visions of Lee Iacocca come to mind because he had both the common touch to be trusted and the corporate authority to be credible when he saved Chrysler.
AIG’s Edward Liddy probably won’t play the Increase Mather role, but I liked his posture before Congress. While Liddy, who came out of cushy retirement to walk into this lion’s den (for a buck a year, no less), was rightly mortified by the actions of his predecessors, he reminded his inquisitors that we’ll need executives with attached heads to engineer our redemption.
Eric Dezenhall co-founded the communications firm Dezenhall Resources Ltd. and serves as its CEO. His first book, Nail 'em!: Confronting High-Profile Attacks on Celebrities and Business, pioneered techniques for understanding and defusing crises.
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Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
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Martin Jacques is the cofounder of the UK think tank Demos, writes a regular column for The Guardian, and is a visiting research fellow at the London School of Economics Asia Research Centre. His new book, When China Rules the World, is available now.
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Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
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Eric Dezenhall co-founded the communications firm Dezenhall Resources, Ltd., and serves as its CEO. His first book, Nail 'em!: Confronting High-Profile Attacks on Celebrities and Business, pioneered techniques for understanding and defusing crises.
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Eric Dezenhall co-founded the communications firm Dezenhall Resources, Ltd., and serves as its CEO. His first book, Nail 'em!: Confronting High-Profile Attacks on Celebrities and Business, pioneered techniques for understanding and defusing crises.
Enough with 'Transparency'
Eric Dezenhall co-founded the communications firm Dezenhall Resources, Ltd., and serves as its CEO. His first book, Nail 'em!: Confronting High-Profile Attacks on Celebrities and Business, pioneered techniques for understanding and defusing crises.
I'm disgusted by ALL of it. The greed and excess that led to the problem, the grandstanding of Congress (which is certainly more culpable in this than Mr. Liddy!) and the bloodlust of the American public to blame somebody - ANYBODY for the debacle. Shame on all of us.
What we really need is a thorough and thoughtful investigation of exactly who did what, when so that we can 1) punish those who DID break the law and 2) make the changes necessary to keep it all from happening again. Of course, that must involve Congress taking a good hard look at its own complicity in this mess - something that won't happen unless the people demand it - and we're too busy expressing our collective Outrage! to think straight. All of which makes such an investigation even less likely. I'm beginning to wonder if this country deserves to recover at all.
I just love how all these freakin' politicians tell us that there was hint of anything illegal being done. It was just greed gone amok. Well, I can't believe that these creeps didn't break laws, and lots of them. How can we know they didn't break any laws if there are no investigations? Didn't they all have fiduciary respnsibility? They gambled with our money. By law they had to behave in a responsible manner. Just like that trader, Nick Leeson, from England who lost all that money for that bank. He is in jail. He made bad trades. He gambled and lost and the bank went bankrupt. But he is in jail. What he did was criminal. And I can't believe that what the AIG people did is not similar. They gambled, we lost, and they need to be in jail. I don't want 0bama prattling on about culture of greed crap. This is crimnal and justice requires that people are jailed for their part. ALL OF THEM. And 0bama and Dodd can pay back their contributions from AIG and other companies that got TARP funds or counterparty bailouts, like Goldman. Conflict of interst abounds from Congrees to the Treasury to Obama. It stinks and how stupid do they think we are? I am outraged and them telling me to shut up will not assuage me. They lie and the media lie and they continue to rape this country.
typo in previous post...I just love how all these freakin' politicians tell us that there wasn't a hint of anything illegal being done.
Who are you who are so wise in the ways of science?
http://tinyurl.com/zd2ex
I for one welcome our new Goldman Sachs overlords...
I hope some kind of a backlash comes soon. We live in a country where the 5th estate is the NRA and folks like 'alibealibe' are in a constant state of outrage too easily fueled.
Let's all watch what happens when the African Christians take that pathetic old man in the white suit--aka the Pope--at his word and start seeking out those witches in the neighborhood.
Witch-hunting is an ongoing human endeavor. It is ALWAYS with us--comprising two of the predominant driving forces in human existenc: ignorance and fear.
Ignorance and fear and anger. don't forget the anger. Witch hutns usually have some substantive beginnings, but they always get out of hand. A mob, whether with torches in the dark of night, or with glowing computer screens, is never rational or reasonable.
There is plenty of blame to go around in this economic upheaval. Blame Madoff, surely. Blame politicians who benefitted from deregulation, regardless of party affiliation. Blame PACs that pressured congress for lending deregulation in order to build a stronger power base. Blame people who took on mortgages they knew they could not pay, pulling a Scarlett O'Hara and promising to think about that tomorrow. Blame everybody who played the 'get-rich-quick' game, knowing it was too good to be true but wanting to get theirs before anyone asked questions. Blame everybody who had credit debt out the wazoo and no savings.
Blame..no, wait..some of this blame might come to rest on... *gasp* ...US! Stop, stop, it's gone too far!
Mr. Dezenhall:
The 17th century witch hunt analogy is quite a stretch. People are not hunting witches, or communists in this case. They're looking for crooks- real, live crooks. Although it may be tempting to incarcerate and torture the perpetrators of financial Armageddon at Guantanamo, most people merely desire a return to affordable housing, job security and the prospect of retirement at some point. Those aspirations do not qualify as a witch hunt and that's the backlash you should be watching for.
Thank you.
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