Obama's challenge tonight: answer CNBC's Rick Santelli

Perhaps President Obama's biggest challenge in his address to Congress tonight is to answer Rick Santelli.

The CNBC reporter and former derivatives trader issued a tirade on the air last week against Obama's $75-billion home mortgage reform plan. When he ranted on the air that "the government is promoting bad behavior" by bailing out "the losers" who took out irresponsible mortgages and accused the Obama administration of turning America into Cuba, Santelli unleashed a spontaneous explosion of anger.

Traders on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade erupted in spontaneous cheers for Santelli. The YouTube posting, seen below, became a viral phenomenon on the Web. The conservative National Review suggested a Palin-Santelli ticket in 2012. And White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs responded that "Mr. Santelli doesn't know what he's talking about."

Now, on the eve of his first major address to Congress, pundits are saying that Obama has to counter Santelli, has to convince Americans that, as the New York Times' David Sanger put it, "they cannot save themselves without first saving the banks that let greed blot out prudence, the car makers who ignored competitive reality for a quarter-century, and the homeowners who somehow persuaded themselves that housing prices only move up."

And, said Sanger, Obama knows he has to be a whole lot more convincing about it than he was last week when Santelli read the pulse of the country better than the White House did.

-- Johanna Neuman

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Photo: CNBC

Comments

[M.S. Tornabe]

Santelli hit it on the head!!!! Why is it that difficult for the TEAM OBAMA??????? Gibbs could learn a thing or two from Santelli. Let me know when the Tea party is. I'll be there!

[Joe]

Really? Aren't Dick's 15 minutes up yet? The man traded derivatives (the very cause of the Bush Depression) and was woefully silent when everybody's money was used to bail out his pals. How did this guy survive not having the sightliest grasp on the housing market and it's overt impact on the economy? Oh wait, he didn't! Maybe that's why he's an ignorant commentator on TV and no longer in the business.

[Christopher Smith]

Not only must President Obama address the concerns most Americans have about this $700 billion fiasco, which Rick Santelli tapped into during his on-air tirade, but he must also answer why Rick Santelli was attacked by his press secretary for having expressed the opinion. Is the administration that uncomfortable with criticism? Are we all supposed to just shut up and do as we're told?

[Ronald Bagliere]

You know instead of pointing fingers and poking holes in an attempt to right the ship, how about everyone - Democrats and Republicans alike park their ego's at the door and start pitching in and working for the common good - meaning instead of zeroing in on all the negatives - look for positives and how we can make then better.

I'm so tired of the rhetoric. Shame on those who have nothing better to do than complain because their agenda isn't being fawned over. We are a nation of whiners who know very little of real sacrifice. My grandfather lived through the great depression, and believe me, from what he told me, we're no where near what he went through during that time. It's time we started pulling together and work with our President to help him craft legislation and bills that work for everyone as much as possible.

A house divided falls! United, we can achieve anything we put our minds and heart to.

[Perry Blake]

Ronald Bagliere - I'm guessing you're a Democrat. Usually it's only Democrats who, now that they are in power, are suddenly "tired of the rhetoric". Why couldn't Democrats just "park their ego's at the door and start pitching in and working for the common good" during the previous eight years?

If you, an adult, bought a house that you could not afford than you should either find a way to pay the mortgage or you should lose it. It's that simple and I'm sorry if it happens to you. Me and my wife waited for the Depression and then bought a house. It's called being responsible and we should not have to pay our mortgage as well as yours.

[Jesse]

Quick correction for "Joe" who asked where Santelli was during the first big bailout that Bush signed in. Basically, thats completely false, Santelli was not "woefully silent" I suggest you all do a little research before you blindly throw Santelli in as some sort of GOP plant. Santelli has these "rants" multiple times every week...against ALL bailouts, not just Obamas.

And there is good reason for it folks...are you stimulus supporters getting excited for the coming shoe to drop...our Dollar crisis? If you hate big corporate america, then you should be all for the free market. The only thing keeping these slave drivers in power still is our very own gov't!

[Robert - Jakarta]

It's a little too late to be blasting irresponsible home buyers and a little too convenient to lay the sole blame at their feet.

Let's call this blame phenomenon "Santelli's Hypocrisy." This is, after all, what this sentiment amounts to. Where was Santelli's (et. al.) resentment with regards to the massive initial bailouts of financial underwriters who fed this frenzy of bad loan writing? Shouldn't he and others have been equally indignant about dumping tax-payer funds into AIG's bottomless pit? Citibank's open hole?

When government officials became incensed with bonuses being paid out to executives of banks that had received federal dollars, CNBC and many, many within the financial community decried this as socialism and proffered many ludicrous reasons why financial industries had to pay top dollar to keep or attract what they coined as "talent." Who exactly is this "talent" here? The men and women who blindly led our economy to near ruin or the men and women who actually produce the goods and services and pay the taxes for which the bailouts could be made possible? What of the IT "talent" that was relegated to contract service while high-paying IT jobs were being transferred to Indian call centers during the past decade?

We have allowed our economy and our way of life to be leveraged, packaged, and sold off. In the meantime, the "talent" that got us into this predicament want to be overly compensated for their troubles.

Here's something for those whom subscribe to Santelli's Hypocrisy: if you do not want to keep families in their homes but want tax payers to buy up toxic assets to save the banks, then how would you propose we relieve these toxic assets? Allow lots to remain unoccupied. Sell them in government auctions for pennies on the dollar to the same unscrupulous few who profited from their illicit sale?

There is no straight-forward answer but Santelli's Hypocrisy provides a solution only to those whom do not live in communities with rapidly depreciating property values. What do they care, right? Santelli's Hypocrisy tells us that we should negligently bail out financial institutions who turned a blind eye to unacceptable risk in the hopes of making unobtainable profits. Santelli's Hypocrisy would have us bankrupt hopeful, overly enthusiastic families while rewarding unethical, immoral mortgage securities traders.

If you subscribe to free-market rules, then you would certainly agree that if we are to allow home foreclosures to continue unabated, we should also allow the troubled financial institutions to fail. This is the dictate of free markets.