The audacity of Obama's relationship with Wall Street is breathtaking, Scarborough writes. Obama's 'friendship' with Wall Street

One of the most famous scenes in movie history comes from “Casablanca,” when a corrupt official shuts down Humphrey Bogart’s cafe. Bogart asks the French captain — who also happens to be a gambling aficionado — why he’s closing the joint down. His response is a classic.

“I am shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on here.”


Political commentators have referred to Capt. Renault’s uproarious line for years when calling out hypocritical politicians. But few political narratives ever fit that scene as tightly as President Barack Obama’s bipolar approach to Wall Street.

To fully understand the extent of Obama’s double-speak, it helps to let the “Casablanca” scene play out a bit, because after the corrupt captain makes his self-righteous declaration, a croupier hands him cash and says, “Your winnings, sir.”

Capt. Renault quietly thanks the croupier and then quickly returns to the role of reformer by shouting, “Everybody out at once!”

Like that old movie character, Obama seems capable of effortlessly floating between demonizing Wall Street gambling one day and profiting from it the next.

The audacity is breathtaking.

The president has raised more money from Wall Street through the Democratic National Committee and his campaign account than any politician in American history. This year alone, he has raked in more cash from bank employees, hedge fund managers and financial services companies than all Republican candidates combined.

Even poor Mitt Romney was outraised by the Obama money machine at his former employer, Bain Capital, by a margin of 2 to 1.

It is a campaign operation whose wheels are greased by Wall Street bundlers like MF Global former chief, Jon Corzine. These financiers are so good at what they do that the Center for Responsive Politics reports that Obama’s Wall Street fundraising will “far surpass 2008 in terms of raw dollars and as a percentage of what he raises overall.”

That’s saying a lot considering that Obama’s “Hope and Change” campaign in 2008 raised more money from the financial community than any other politician in American history.

According to Reuters, Wall Street accounted for 20 percent of the president’s campaign funds because of a massive cash haul from Goldman Sachs, AIG, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m a free market guy when it comes to political contributions. Anyone who wants to raise $1 billion from hedge fund managers should be free to do it, so long as there is transparency.

But it’s laughable that the same man who feasts with Wall Street fat cats at $38,000-a-plate fundraisers turns around and claims the next day that attacking those same money men will be the basis of his reelection campaign.

Obama’s fake outrage is all the more preposterous considering that the White House’s policies have led to record profits on Wall Street during the first two years of the Obama administration. In fact, Wall Street amassed more profits in the first two years of the Obama presidency than all eight of George W. Bush’s combined.

A Nov. 6 Washington Post article describes how Obama’s economic policies gave the finance community low-cost money, high-yield investments and unprecedented profits.

Still, Obama tells us he is shocked, shocked by the gambling that continues to dominate Wall Street.

If he were Capt. Renault, Obama might consider taking one last payout before ending his marriage with Wall Street. But the president is far more nimble that that. Expect him instead to continue taking millions in cash from the very people he will keep calling “fat cats.”

The routine may be unseemly, but the relationship between Obama and Wall Street is too profitable for both sides to end. And as we learned in “Casablanca,” as Bogart and Renault fade into Morocco’s fog, beautiful friendships sometimes come from the most unexpected places.

A guest columnist for POLITICO, Joe Scarborough hosts “Morning Joe” on MSNBC and represented Florida’s 1st Congressional District in the House of Representatives from 1995 to 2001.