Reading The Pictures: Obama Puts Bankers On Parade

The CEOs arrived today at the White House alone or escorted by other company executives; some were quickly ushered in through the security gate by Bartlett, while others were forced to go through the usual routine for visitors. Dimon was among the first to arrive and was asked by the guard at the gate to repeat his name twice and spell it once. -- Bank CEOs Tell Obama They Are Working Toward Recovery (Bloomberg)

I'm thrilled how Obama corralled those bank CEOs on Friday for a selflessness workshop, then kicked them loose out on the driveway to face a hungry media.

For a group of men who thrive on anonymity outside the business sphere, Obama's move to put them on center stage was a clever act of taking names. Considering the single file; B 0f A CEO Ken Lewis' suck-it-up face; and the fact that reporters and photographers were eagerly lined up on either side of Lewis, Mack, Pandit and company, one association here is to running the gauntlet.

(Of course, there was also the delicious scene of Mr. Pandit trying to get out of the White House grounds which had its own great "watch your back!" elements.)

The other visual element I found particularly telling is located on Lewis' lapel.

What I can't get over is the fact this guy actually went to the White House Friday wearing a Bank of America pin. In symbolic defiance of Obama's "one for all" message (and the fact "44" puts such stock in his U.S.A. pin), this accessory is a wonderful demonstration of the problem-at-hand -- the co-opting of the American brand in the name of the corporate state.

For more visual politics, visit BAGnewsNotes.com (and more take-aways via Twitter).

(images: Mark Wilson/Getty Images. caption 1: (L-R) John Stumpf, CEO Wells Fargo, Kenneth D. Lewis, Chairman, CEO, and President of Bank of America, U.S. Bancorp CEO Richard Davis, John Mack CEO of Morgan Stanley, Vikram Pandit ,CEO of Citigroup, John Koskinen, CEO of Freddie Mac, and others walk out of the White House after a meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on March 27, 2009 in Washington DC)

Comments

[dblshell]

The "Perp Walk"

You can almost smell the sulfur...

[emjay1954]

Oh, yeah. Obama really showed THEM.

"Hey, you guys. Go out there in public. To make it up to you, I'll be sending you a check for $300 billion real soon."

Tell you what. I'll be delighted to walk down the White House driveway after getting my big payoff from Obama. In fact, you can give me one of those big cardboard checks like the kind they give lottery winners or golf tournament champions. Won't bother me a bit.

[Skyhawk]

My only thing is Obama should have asked for resignations like he did GM's CEO. There is a double standard with Wall St. and the automakers.

[TJCole]

Yeah just like that big meeting they busted up of all the Mafia Dons up here in NY State decades ago..!

[pinkindie]

Ah, ye ole "walk of shame." Usually takes place at the break of dawn. For these fools, in broad daylight. Fun.

[TheFriendlyAtheist]

Lucky for these guys that they live in America. In China they would all be standing against a cinder block wall, smoking cigarettes, and looking at the inside of a blindfold. I guess America can't do everything right.

[Harndog]

Funny...Al­l the boys walking out with the blue "A" badges reminds me of the Scarlet Letter. ... What if "we" need the boys to do the prep walk as it is easier then acknowledging our own "sins"?

It maybe psychologically easier to pin it on the boys than acknowledge our own self delusions.­...

[ultrabop]

The face of Fascism has always been ugly. Too bad it's here, now, today. Maybe time to put these guys behind bars. Are prisons are full of pot-smokers. How about replacing them with these corporate thugs?

[edva]

"...the co-opting of the American brand in the name of the corporate state." Yes! Exactly! These greedy fools have just about killed the goose. And our pompous, egotist government "representatives" have rolled over for them. A total shame, a deserved disaster, too bad the many have to suffer for the sins of the few.

[devans00]

One of the best perp walks in a while. ;}

That first guy looks like he knows he's being played and doesn't like it.

[oustfan]

Isn't BoA owned by the government now? Isn't wearing a BoA pin be patriotic symbol now?

Call me crazy, but I think Obama should've "corralled" these guys before (or instead of) giving them trillions of dollars.

[petalsoft]

Obama didn't give anyone trillions of dollars. The last Administration gave most of the billions of TARP to these banks and Obama is NOT going to make decisions out of emotions.

[Shrapnel]

Right. He is going to make decisions based on what his banking, corporate, drug smuggling money-laundereing bosses tell him to do.

[oustfan]

He voted FOR it as a senator.