Part of the reason why Obama was not critically treated by the media was the fact that Parsons exercised control over a vast array of the corporate media, including CNN, Time magazine, Money, People, and Fortune magazines, and, at the time, AOL.
Parsons even is friends with Karl Rove. And that apparently has helped influence the Obama administration's approach to justice issues:
But more importantly, Parsons, according to Democratic Party sources, has ensured that Obama maintains his policy of looking forward and not back.Parsons, who is a friend of former Bush policy adviser Karl Rove, has convinced Obama that there should be no criminal investigations by the Justice Department of Rove or other top Bush administration officials from everything from political prosecutions of former Alabama Democratic Governor Don Siegelman and Rove's involvement in election fraud to the CIA's rendition and torture programs. Parsons was a member of an economic advisory team that met with President-elect Obama just two days after he was elected President in 2008.
What kind of judgment does Richard Parsons possess? Questionable appears to be the best answer. He brought inlongtime Washington insider Richard Hohltat Citigroup. Here is howThe New York Timesdescribed that move:
Critics say that as a top lobbyist for the savings and loan industry in the 1980s, Mr. Hohlt blocked regulation of these institutions and played a pivotal role helping to prolong dubious industry practices that cost taxpayers $150 billion to clean up.
Want to know more about Richard Hohlt and his connections? Consider thisfrom one blogthat has focused on the banking bailout:
Richard Hohlt was recently hired by Citi chairman Richard Parsons as a "consultant". Hohlt is a former aide to Richard Lugar. His roster of clients has included, among others, JPMorgan, Washington Mutual, TimeWarner, Philip Morris, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Chevron, and the Nuclear Energy Institute.He's a close associate of Karl Rove and collaborated with Robert Novak in outing Valerie Plame. He was a George Bush "Super Ranger" bagman.
William Black [a banking regulator] called him "infamous" and his hiring "obscene".
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