Referring to President Obama‘s shockwave of an interview with Bloomberg News, in which he once again caressed and winked at bankers by rhetorically kissing their asses, N.Y. Times coluimnist Paul Krugman has asked “how is it possible, at this late date, for Obama to be this clueless?

“First of all, to my knowledge, irresponsible behavior by baseball players hasn’t brought the world economy to the brink of collapse and cost millions of innocent Americans their jobs and/or houses.

“And more specifically, not only has the financial industry has been bailed out with taxpayer commitments; it continues to rely on a taxpayer backstop for its stability. The point is that these bank executives are not free agents who are earning big bucks in fair competition; they run companies that are essentially wards of the state.

“There’s good reason to feel outraged at the growing appearance that we’re running a system of lemon socialism, in which losses are public but gains are private. And at the very least, you would think that Obama would understand the importance of acknowledging public anger over what’s happening.

“But no. If the Bloomberg story is to be believed, Obama thinks his key to electoral success is to trumpet “the influence corporate leaders have had on his economic policies.” We’re doomed.