Wasn’t the Obama Presidency supposed to be all about putting Main St. ahead of Wall St? Wasn’t “Hope” and “Change You Can Believe In” all about stopping those Wall St. “fat cats?” Didn’t union bosses convince their members that this time it would be different?

Well, they got what they paid for…for a while (December 13, 2009):

President Obama has ratcheted up his rhetoric against Wall Street just as some of the nation’s top bankers head to the White House for what looks increasingly likely to be a tense and combative meeting.

But then something happened to Hope…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcBxDnUy6yI[/youtube]

Video, courtesy of the estimable Ben Howe

Obama Brings Back Clinton’s Economic Team

Thursday, as expected, Obama named as his new chief of staff William Daley, 62, a JPMorgan Chase executive and former Clinton commerce secretary who’s also a member of the prominent Daley political family of Chicago. Daley has headed JPMorgan’s Midwest operations as well as the firm’s corporate responsibility section.

Obama is also expected to announce Friday that he’ll choose Clinton’s National Economic Council head Gene Sperling, 52, as his own new council director. Sperling is an adviser to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and has worked for investment house Goldman Sachs.

So, the next time you hear a union boss talk about the GOP and Wall Street fat cats, perhaps you’ll remind him who’s got the felines’ fleas :

• Goldman Sachs $994,795
• Citigroup Inc. $701,290
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. $695,132
• UBS AG $543,219
• Morgan Stanley $541,881

Of course, it might not be too long now and union bosses may try to just convince their members to shell out more money to start singing Fleetwood Mac again.

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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.”  Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

X-posted.