Ever hear someone who is tone deaf try to sing? It's cringe-inducing to listen as their voice slides up and down missing the true notes entirely. But as they massacre the tune they are shooting for, their voice remains amazingly loud. It's as if they believe by sheer volume they can convince the audience of their own delusion - that they have hit each note perfectly and should be lavishly praised for their exceptional singing prowess. Speaking of being tone deaf, President Obama has been singing a lot about Wall Street lately.

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In an interview in December he declared, "I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street...They're still puzzled why is it that people are mad at the banks. Well, let's see. You guys are drawing down $10, $20 million bonuses after America went through the worst economic year that it's gone through in -- in decades, and you guys caused the problem. And we've got 10% unemployment." (source)

Just last month while pushing for a new $90 billion tax on banks to supposedly recoup the cost of bailouts, the president called the latest round of bank bonuses "obscene" saying, "We are already hearing a hue and cry from Wall Street, suggesting that this proposed fee is not only unwelcome but unfair, that by some twisted logic, it is more appropriate for the American people to bear the cost of the bailout rather than the industry that benefited from it, even though these executives are out there giving themselves huge bonuses." (source)

A day after that, in a last ditch attempt to save the Democrats' super majority in the Senate, Mr. Obama tried to portray Wall Street executives as the enemy of the people and Democratic candidate Martha Coakley as his ally in the fight against those executives. At a Coakley rally just days before the election, the president said of Ms. Coakley, "She's got your back, her opponent's got Wall Street's back." (source)

This attempt at class warfare (euphemistically referred to as Wall Street vs. Main Street by the administration) has proven to be yet another failed incarnation of this president's alleged populist beliefs. He's now singing equally off-key in the other direction. In an interview with Bloomberg Business Week, President Obama declined to criticize bonuses received by two top Wall Street chief executives, saying he doesn't "begrudge people success or wealth." (source) Those two CEO's are Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. who received bonuses of $17 million and $9 million respectively.

The interview won't be published in its entirety until Friday but the White House has gone into full damage control mode releasing a partial transcript in advance and providing the press with past statements from the president in which he said he did not begrudge success and wealth. But the fact remains that on the specific topic of executive bonuses the president is clearly on record as thinking they are "obscene" rewards given to "fat cats" who "caused the problem" and now they're evidently not so bad. In spite of all the pre-emptive spin, there's no denying the president has sung out yet another clunker.