The always perceptive Jeff Poor, of MRC/Newsbusters/Business and Media Institute, notes that CNBC-er Jim Cramer has changed his tune in regard to Barack Obama and his economic policies:
Cramer made the pronouncement despite his long record of criticism for being a bull-market cheerleader. And he had already taken "The Great Depression II" off the table - and defended his decision to do so - back in December after the previous president and Congress passed bailout plans.
But on April 2 he credited President Barack Obama for the end of this Depression and the beginning of this forecasted bull market.
"And then today, we got the second big positive - President Obama praised, what did he praise? The stock market! This is a total 180 from his position a few months ago. You got to admire a president who can change his mind, especially after eight years of George W. Bush's laissez-faire philosophy - that almost led rapacious late-stage capitalism to devour itself."
So why the switch? Poor speculates that it has to do with criticism:
While Obama's rhetoric may have changed in Cramer's view, it's difficult not to notice that the "Mad Money" host's about-face comes after his criticism of the administration embroiled him in a controversy with Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart that climaxed with a less-than-stellar appearance on Stewart's March 12 show.
From that point on, Cramer has taken a less abrasive tack toward the Commander-in-Chief.A month ago Obama was responsible for "the greatest destruction of wealth I have ever seen by a president" and Cramer was calling him a Lenin. Today, Cramer is not only pro-Obama, he's also upbeat on Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner - both of whom he has harshly criticized in the past.
Pain-avoidance is always a good explanation for behavior, especially for a bullying personality--can sure dish it out, but can't take it--like Cramer. But The Cable Gamer thinks that the explanation is even simpler, and it has to do with the old wisdom, "follow the money." CNBC is a subunit of NBC, which is in turn owned by General Electric. And GE has massive exposure on the bad-loans front, thanks to another of its subsidiaries, GE Capital. And GE Capital, as TCG has pointed out many times, has received hundreds of billions from the feds in bailout assistance of various kinds.
Which is to say, because funds are fungible, CNBC might be reckoned as being on the government payroll now, just like NPR or PBS. And so, of course, CNBC's politics are starting to resemble those of NPR and PBS. So more now dissing of Obama. Got that, Jim? And by the way, meet your new CNBC buddies, Arianna Huffington and Howard Dean.
