Some context for Obama’s tough talk on Wall Street

In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” programme, he said he did not run for office to be “helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street”

Great. We’ll see what policies Obama pushes through, and who benefits from them, but until then, as long as we only have talk from Obama, it’s worth recalling the Obama-Wall Street relationship to date:

• Obama raised more money from Wall Street ($14.8 million), according to data from OpenSecrets.org, than any candidate in history.
• Obama raised more money from Goldman Sachs ($997,095) than any candidate has raised from any one company since McCain-Feingold.
• Obama fully supported the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street last year, when he was the only man in a position to block it.
• The two captains of Team Bailout within the Federal Reserve — Tim Geithner and Ben Bernanke — have been rewarded with appointment/renomination by Obama.
• White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was a Goldman Sachs consultant (while working as Bill Clinton’s chief fundraiser), and shattered records for House members raising funds from Wall Street.

I could go on, but the five points above should be sufficient to cast doubt on Obama’s claims to be battling Wall Street.