There’s a reason President Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton in 2008: He’s the smart one.
For example, Obama waited until after his White House ambitions were fed before joining the extremely lucrative Wall Street speaking circuit. Clinton did the opposite, much to her detriment.
That said, it’s a bit impressive, if not remarkable, that the man who routinely scolded the financial industry for not paying its “fair share” is now giving six-figure speeches to bankers, and it hasn’t even been a year since he left the White House.
Obama was paid approximately $400,000 last month for a speech in New York to clients of Northern Trust Corp., according to Bloomberg News. Last week, he appeared before members of the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, for a likely equal amount of cash, the report added.
Next week, the former president is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the Cantor Fitzgerald LP’s healthcare conference. The price tag on this upcoming speech: $400,000.
These aren’t isolated incidents for Obama. There’s a lot more Wall Street money ahead for him, according to close allies, including UBS Group AG executive Robert Wolf.
“He was the president of the entire United States — financial services are under that umbrella,” said Wolf. “He doesn’t look at Wall Street like, ‘Oh, these are individuals who don’t want the best for the country.’ He doesn’t stereotype.”
An Obama spokesman, Kevin Lewis, defended the speeches by saying Obama delivers addresses that are “true to his values.”
It’s like that Dr. Hook song: “We sing about beauty and we sing about truth — at $10,000 a show.”
Lewis added in an email to Bloomberg, “[Obama’s] paid speeches in part have allowed President Obama to contribute $2 million to Chicago programs offering job training and employment opportunities to low-income youth.”
Cantor CEO Howard Lutnick said the former commander in chief is expected to deliver not just remarks next week, but that he is also expected to engage in a Q&A session.
“Everybody would like to come,” he said. “Hopefully, we will really talk about the Affordable Care Act in interesting and nuanced ways, which I think is really cool.”
Good for Obama. There’s nothing wrong with a little hustle. If $400,000 is the price people are willing to pay to hear America’s 44th president speak, then more power to him. After all, he is now ineligible to run for president, and he’s unlikely to seek any other office, so they evidently just really want to hear what he has to say.
What’s amusing about the president’s speaking gig is that it contrasts his political savvy to Clinton’s lack thereof.
The former secretary of state was dogged throughout the 2016 Democratic primaries and presidential election by questions regarding her paid speeches to Wall Street. She didn’t help things when she refused to release the transcripts of said speeches.
Like Obama, there’s nothing wrong with Clinton being compensated handsomely for her speeches.
But why did she give those talks while she still had an eye on the White House? She ran again for president just a few years after the Occupy Wall Street uprising. Did she really think no one would ask about her lucrative speeches to Wall Street bankers? Talk about self-inflicted wounds. She could’ve made money delivering addresses to literally any other industry.
You don’t give those kind of speeches before taking the White House. You give them after.
There’s a reason Clinton lost to Obama in the 2008 Democratic primaries. The latter clearly has the better political instincts.
