Gibbs: Jim Cramer Not Our Target Audience (VIDEO)

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs took a jab at CNBC's Jim Cramer today, after the abrasive financial analyst called Barack Obama's economic plan "the greatest wealth destruction by a president" and "a radical agenda" that "put a level of fear in this country that I have not seen ever in my life."

Asked about the attack (by NBC reporter Tom Costello) Gibbs responded: "I'm not entirely sure what he's pointing to to make some of the statements. I think you can go back and look at any number of statements that he's made in the past about the economy and where some of the backup for those are, too."

Pressed further by Costello, Gibbs said, "If you turn on a certain program, it's geared to a very small audience. No offense to my good friends, or friend at CNBC. But the President has to look out for the broader economy and the broader population."

The press secretary was treading carefully, saying he was "going to get in a lot of trouble if I continue with" that subject. Gibbs lashed into CNBC's Rick Santelli last month after the reporter railed against the housing bailout from the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Asked if he "got in a lot of trouble" for that move, the Obama spokesman responded, "There are very few days that I've had more fun. I was afraid I was going to have too much more fun."

Watch:

And watch Cramer's comments on the "Today Show":

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Comments

[oexpress]

03:37 PM on 03/13/2009

Kramer is a BOOB!

simple as that!

http://alice.bigbig.com/

[bobdaw]

03:31 AM on 03/07/2009

Jim Cramer is up in arms about what Obama is doing to turn the economy around with the "capital destruction" tirade.
Here is the latest ilk on this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EqQwr7PLfA
Even as Cramer mouths off about what Obama's administration is doing or not doing to correct the failure of 8 years of "f*ck up" by the prior administration with his mantra of "THEY KNOW NOTHING"
I would offer up that Jim Cramer is or has morphed into a "Black Swan" - we fool ourselves into thinking we know more than we actually do. Cramer pointing his finger at the Obama administration as "THEY KNOW NOTHING" is in truth pointing three fingers back at Cramer that he in fact knows nothing as well.
For a primer on "The Black Swan" mind set I highly recommend Nassim Nicholas Taleb book on this subject.
It is so timely given the state of financial free fall we are in today.
Here is the link:
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable

[Wigelah]

06:18 PM on 03/05/2009

I heart all things Gibbs. Robert AND Leroy Jethro. Cramer and Santelli both need a Gibbs slap.

[KofTX]

11:56 AM on 03/05/2009

Two things:

One, because Krugman, Santelli and Limbaugh have gained momentum and notoriety by reporters asking the White House about their rants, everybody sees outrageous criticism of President Obama as a way to boost their ratings.

Two, the Obama Administration doesn't pay these so-called reporters to ask about these nuts, they simply answer them. Then, the media feigns surprise and charges the President's Administration with hypocrisy?!? It seems that the higher President Obama's favorability goes in the polls and the more dysfunctional the Republican party gets, the more DESPERATE the media seems in trying to create parody.

President Obama is whippin' the Republicans asses and the media is afraid they will lose ratings. It's like watching a blowout on the basketball court. People tend to ;eave the stands before the game ends.

[DLBSR]

07:54 PM on 03/04/2009

Come on guys, lighten up on Cramer. Everybody knows he's nothing more than an entertainer. If you invested based on this man's advice, that's your fault. After all, he does work for Cramer's Nothing But Comedy channel.

[Badger84]

01:40 AM on 03/05/2009

He's violating the trust of naive and desparate people. My concern, not only with Cramer but all self-styled investment gurus on television or radio, is whether they are receiving compensation to steer viewers/listeners toward otherwise dubious investments. I'm not aware of any safeguards against that. We need an FCC that imposes sanctions anyone who uses the public airways but does not act in the public interest.

[Bardmess]

12:41 PM on 03/05/2009

FCC probably doesn't have the power to decide what is in the public's interests, but if all advertising for profit on the public airways was illegal the problem would fix itself. That was Gore Vidal's idea, I think.

[Nonamnesiac]

06:51 PM on 03/04/2009

In March 2008 Cramer stated that Bear Stearns was fine -- not in trouble. Cramer is just another voodooista who helped cause this whole calamity and wants to keep his taxes low so he keeps screaming at the Administration for increasing the taxes on the wealthy (a necessary correction if the economy will eventually get back on track).

Cramer is just another one of the economic pundits who is now suffering from SWMS (Stupid White Male Syndrome) screaming venom along with Joe (I still support voodoo economics) Scarborough, Pat (the US fought on the wrong side during WWII) Buchanan and Dylan (I never got it right and still don't know what's happening, except I love low taxes for the rich) Ratigan.

It is amazing that these pundits, who have gotten everything wrong from the Iraq War (and the Vietnam War for that matter) forward, can continue to get paid as people in the know. The only thing one can be sure of is that if the pundits and their "knowledgeable" guests say it, it's more likely inaccurate than not.

[protagonia]

04:54 PM on 03/04/2009

Jim Cramer has the same credibility as Seinfeld's Cosmo Kramer these days.

[TrnsNtnl]

03:27 PM on 03/04/2009

I like how they are trying to make Obama look like the person who injected fear into America.

[AllenD]

03:24 PM on 03/04/2009

I dedicate today's rally to that CNBC barking seal, Jim Cramer. It wouldn't suprise me if the bottom is in!

[arkadie7]

03:06 PM on 03/04/2009

His old show "lowlife and crud" was best viewed with the sound off. I believe I noticed considerably more fear the day after 9/11 but I guess he's forgotten that. The only truly fearful are those whose portfolio contains nothing but paper, no sweat equity for those in the gated communities who watch guys like this pontificate on how to make money by doing nothing but expoiting ithe sweat of others.
This economy is the result of failed repugnant policies authorized by Shrub who helped to artificially raise the prospects of the super rich, "the haves and have mores", as he called them on the backs of the middle class. Trickle down economics, voodo economics, the class warfare practiced by the far right is coming home to roost and the super rich are goning to pay and rightly so. The super rich better appreciate Obama's plan because the rest of us were planning to kill and eat them if this deosn't work.

[coco51]

02:25 PM on 03/04/2009

Is it just me or has Cramer lost a signigficant amount of weight? I hope it's by choice and not due to an ailment. That said, he could loose a few decibels.

Another observation, only selfish rich Republicans can afford to scream incendiary bs like, "the greatest wealth destruction by a president" and "a radical agenda" that "put a level of fear in this country that I have not seen ever in my life." Bet if Bernie Madoff hadn't been busted he would have been a guest of Cramer making similar bs comments.

[JoeAmerican]

02:11 PM on 03/04/2009

I like Cramer generally, but I remember distinctly during one show his encouragement to viewers to stop paying their mortgages. It was around the time he developed a housing crash watch list of stocks (for which I'm not sure he has ever re-visited).

[Mildmannered]

02:04 PM on 03/04/2009

Cramer should remember that the recession/depression started on Bush's watch after 7 years of republican rule, that many of us are really hurting financially, that trickle down economics has not worked, and that he really has no better ideas for getting us out of this recession/depression

[LHoney]

02:03 PM on 03/04/2009

Cramer is a talented entertainer, almost as talented as Rush.

[Sparty1]

02:02 PM on 03/04/2009

This coming from the man that swore up and down that Goldman Sachs was a sure thing just days before they were bought out. Who's taking his advice?

[AngerAndDetermination]

02:18 PM on 03/04/2009

Is that true? Do you have a link?

[UncommonSenz]

02:25 PM on 03/04/2009

Posted earlier:

"For those tempted to take this guy seriously, here he is DAYS before Bear Sterns collapsed pushing that stock...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/17/cramer-called-bear-stearn_n_91878.html

The guy was so flat out wrong... so spectacularly clueless, that I am not too worried if he is predicting disaster."

[MsPeppy]

02:35 PM on 03/04/2009

http://www.michaelcovel.com/2008/12/28/jim-cramers-predictions-for-2008/

[LHoney]

02:35 PM on 03/04/2009

I don't remember that, but I do remember Bear Stearns...