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Tommy_Carcetti

(43,084 posts)
Mon May 1, 2017, 04:12 PM May 2017

Help me out here.

Barack Obama:

a) Is no longer President*;


b) Cannot be President again*;

...and.....

c) Is highly unlikely he'll ever run for any sort of public office again.



So then can someone explain to me why anyone paying for him to speak to them has any bearing on anything whatsoever?



*Unfortunately the case, no matter how much we wish it to be otherwise

18 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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shraby

(21,946 posts)
2. I think he should take what the market will bear. He will probably do a lot more good
Mon May 1, 2017, 04:27 PM
May 2017

with it than the people who are paying him.

Doreen

(11,686 posts)
4. BECAUSE
Mon May 1, 2017, 04:34 PM
May 2017

With all of the experience he has obtained through out his life and the presidency he has things he can teach people. He is basically being paid to teach. THAT IS WHY!!

More_Cowbell

(2,190 posts)
7. Especially when the whole Trump family is making money DURING the presidency...
Mon May 1, 2017, 06:18 PM
May 2017

Making money hand over foot. It's crazy.

theaocp

(4,223 posts)
8. The only reason I clicked on this
Mon May 1, 2017, 06:19 PM
May 2017

is that is might have been NOT about more bitching without any sensible destination other than further bitching. Thanks for nothing.

bucolic_frolic

(42,670 posts)
11. Well ...
Mon May 1, 2017, 06:44 PM
May 2017

His role in the financial crisis was invaluable to them, or

they want to make sure he stays on board with no 'tell-all' books, or

in any subsequent (financial) crisis, he is still a heavyweight source of perspective, or

somebody there wanted to talk to him.

Lucky Luciano

(11,242 posts)
12. The best argument they make is that it looks like Obama is receiving payments for services rendered
Mon May 1, 2017, 06:48 PM
May 2017

However, such an argument is specious since, while Obama was great for capitalists (whether capitalists will admit it or not), he did also try hard to check them in spite of the Republican party apparatus united against him. Note how all the many donors from the financial sector for Obama in 2008 switched to Romney in 2012.

W and Cheney were all about allowing capitalists to run roughshod over the country and if they were to receive similar payments for services rendered, they would have had million dollar speeches at various oil companies and military contractors on a weekly basis.

Bottom line - Obama is popular and highly sought after - and his agent gets top dollar. There is no conflict of interest and no payments for services rendered.

Chakaconcarne

(2,387 posts)
14. It's not like he owned a bunch of Hotels or anything while he was president.
Mon May 1, 2017, 06:54 PM
May 2017

Not like any other president before him got paid to speak.

They are worried that in his public life, Obama is going to cause waves.

TNNurse

(6,911 posts)
15. My response to the woman who commented to me about it was
Mon May 1, 2017, 06:57 PM
May 2017

He is a private citizen, what is the problem? She admitted she did not have an answer.

bhikkhu

(10,708 posts)
16. He was a huge role model, influential, intelligent and inspiring
Mon May 1, 2017, 07:03 PM
May 2017

Lots of people hoped that was all over when he left the presidency. I'm just fine if its not - there's a lot he can still accomplish.

And then there's the echo of the criticism of Hillary's speaking engagements, which I always thought was a bunch of crap. She accepted money to speak at big corporate to-do's, and that money went to the Clinton Foundation, which does a great deal of good. And when she spoke it was in advocacy of her positions, and how the listeners could do better in the world. Same as when she was on the Walmart board - she was added because the corporation realized it had a diversity problem on its board, and in its corporate culture. Hillary worked there to advocate for more equality and opportunity for people, for the advancement of women, equal pay for equal work and so forth...

It aggravates me when people who's positions we are all in favor of are pilloried for advocating those positions in any other role than "preaching to the choir".

 

That Guy 888

(1,214 posts)
17. Is there a transcript of the speech? Does a former President lack influence within his Party?
Mon May 1, 2017, 07:35 PM
May 2017

"Maybe Obama Is Doing Paid Speeches Because He Thinks Big-Money Special Interests Are Fine" - By Ben Mathis-Lilley slate.com



...Let's review some of what happened during Obama's presidency.

The advisers who helped him run his inspiring 2008 campaign all became big-money corporate lobbyists.
He backed the Affordable Care Act's creation of a health-care system that's very generous to the health insurance and pharmaceutical industries, both of which were consulted extensively during the composition of the the bill.
He appointed bankers like Tim Geithner, Larry Summers, and William Daley to some of the most influential positions in his administration.
He chose not to push for criminal prosecutions of financial executives whose involvement in fraud had helped cause the 2008 economic crash.

Obama says he's against this kind of thing. On April 24, in fact, one of the topline messages of his first post-presidency public appearance was that special-interest lobbying—and the influence of money on politics more broadly—is one of the primary obstacles to making progress on problems such as economic inequality, climate change, and crime:

What is preventing us from tackling [the United States' problems] and making more progress really has to do with our politics and our civic life. It has to do with the fact that because of things like political gerrymandering our parties have moved further and further apart and it's harder and harder to find common ground. Because of money and politics. Special interests dominate the debates in Washington in ways that don't match up with what the broad majority of Americans feel.

One thing that's nice about Obama is that his words usually match his deeds. But the words and deeds just don't match up in this case, and they haven't since he campaigned in 2008 on a platform of representing grass roots Americans against big-money corporate lobbyists and then went and did all the things I listed above.


http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2017/04/28/barack_obama_s_cantor_fitzgerald_speech_may_reflect_his_true_beliefs_about.html


..."the "revolving door" influence of corporate special interests" keeps turning and all is right within the Beltway.
18. It isn't relevant / important at all. But if the internet
Mon May 1, 2017, 09:07 PM
May 2017

was only for discussing relevant / important things, just about everyone would be banned.

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