President Barack Obama pressed his case for an expensive budget and broad financial reforms on Wednesday while anger over bonuses paid at bailed-out insurance giant AIG threatened to overshadow his economic agenda.
During a campaign-style trip to California, a state that has been hard hit by the recession, Obama tried to defuse criticism about the AIG payouts and defend the government's bailout of struggling banks even as he tapped populist anger over the country's financial woes, reports Reuters in a Mar 18 posting from California.
"I know a lot of you are outraged about this -- rightfully so. I'm outraged too," he said of the $165 million in bonuses given top officials at American Insurance Group Inc, which accepted US$180 billion in government aid to keep it from going under. "I'll take responsibility. I'm the president," he told the cheering crowd of some 1,300. It's my job to make sure we fix these messes even if I don't make them."
Reuters reported that the firestorm over AIG and its business-as-usual bonuses threatens Obama's image as a crusader for change and could undermine his efforts to pull the economy out of a deep recession and pass his record US$3.5 trillion budget.
At a brief White House news conference before his trip, Obama expressed confidence in Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who has come under harsh criticism over the bonuses, and his economic team, many of whom stood at his side.
