3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Rattner Theories

3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Rattner Theories

3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Rattner Theories

A mostly political weblog.
July 13 2009 5:46 PM

3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 Rattner Theories

Phase Out: Why is Steve Rattner resigning  from the Obama administration so soon? Remember that when he quit his investment firm to take his auto czarito job  he sent out an email declaring he was leaving Wall Street to begin "a new phase of my life, in the public sector." Short phase. Why? Some theories: 1) The pay-to-play scandal is embarrassing. Obama let him do his job through the bankruptcy and then quit gracefully when fewer people would be looking. 2) Also, he needs to spend his efforts making sure the "unlikely" charges against him stay unlikely ; Update: " NY AG probe of Rattner ... heats up "-- Reuters ;  3) He's too much of a press hound for the Obama crew**; 4) He's enough of a press hound to know that if he quits now he can get some suckup stories about how he's "going out on top;") 5) Indeed, the glamour work of the auto task force is done. All that's left to do is watch the bailed out auto companies fail to meet expectations, and quite likely fail period. It's either up or out for an ambitious guy like Rattner. There was no up. So it's out. 6) Ron Bloom always had the power. Rattner was the front man. That wasn't about to change. 7) He shares Sarah Palin's career adviser; 8) Ron Gettelfinger never liked him anyway. Also: Rattner is  skeptical of auto unions and it's the union's show now.  9) Pinch needs him.  10) He wants to direct . 11) Obama and Geithner want to dramatize that "day-to-day management of these companies" is back "in the hands of the private sector" --and Rattner was the walking, leaking personification of government intrusion. 12) This extremely unverified but widely viewed undernews, about which I know nothing and which even its source blogger writes might be "inflammatory nonsense"!   ...

P.S.: Full kf Rattner cache here . ...  

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P.P.S.: No doubt his old firm, Quadrangle, will welcome him back with open arms! ...

**-- An example of Rattner's facility at self-promotion might be the number of journalists who think Ron Bloom was "his deputy." I don't think that was exactly the case. See this delicately worded press release . ... 2:54 P.M.

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WaPo 's Michael Shear  follows the Kinsley source-greasing formula with comic fidelity , says Omri Ceren . Not true! Shear is greasing up about 20 staffers at once . A challenging profit environment demands that journalists exploit economies of scale. ... Update: Actually, Kinsley seems to have anticipated that change too:

"Obama has changed the rules," [a character called the source-greaser-in-chief] says. "Everyone he appoints is so wonderful that there aren't enough positive words to describe all of them. My job is to centralize the sucking up and make sure that each subject gets a fair share of the available adjectives."

2:52 P.M.

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