Like probably all of my readers, I received an email from Alan Grayson today, asking me why the White House has nominated a guy to high office who received a parting bribe from His old employer, the Bank of America:
When former Wall Street banker Stefan Selig was nominated for a senior Commerce Department role that is central to trade negotiations, Bank of America (where he worked at the time as a top executive) paid him a special $9 million “exit” bonus.
Even for those of us used to the obscene spectacle of corruption known as the revolving door between government and big business, this is both eye-popping and scandalous.
Let's be clear, the $9 million was not a normal yearly bonus. It was an extra bonus on top of a $5.1 million incentive bonus given to him for his job performance. And it was given to him right as he was poised to gain the power to write Bank of America's interests directly into our trade agreements.
Nice work if you can get it. Only in this gilded age would this not be considered a bribe.
Anyway, like everyone else that got the email I was not shocked, because I have lost the capacity for outrage, even about truly outrageous things.
No, my first reaction was: “Where are the Republicans when you need them”. Shouldn't they be all over this? Wouldn't it make more sense to go ballistic over this than Benghazi, a “scandal” that has less than one hundredth the sex appeal of Whitewater, the non-starter scandal of the Clinton Administration. Why, oh why, are the Republicans so quiet about this, leaving it to a lefty Democrat to oppose Obama (he who ordinarily should be opposed in all things)?
Well, that's what I wondered for half a second, but then reason prevailed. The Republicans may hate Obama much, but they love their banker backers more. Just as they never made any noise about Little Timmy's tax problems, they will never make any noise about Selig's bribe.
If by chance, you are still capable of feeling outrage about stuff like this, you can register your ineffectual protest here.
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