Obama vs. Goldman: The Latest Round

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Maybe it’s because Obama’s latest Wall Street lecture took place on their turf, not his.  Perhaps Team Obama is simply channeling the boss’s frustration.  Or maybe Rahm, Pritzker and Volcker understand that actually regulating, versus tongue-lashing, Wall Street is going to cost — especially with the SEC now taking on Goldman for fraud.

However you explain these expressions, it’s notable how this morning’s photos of Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs’ head honcho, all conveyed the most open, warm, cooperative, engaging, and winning face.

Jim Young/Reuters

Before chalking it all up to hubris, though, Goldman’s latest numbers demonstrate winning still comes pretty easy these days.

( caption 1: Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein (R) and his colleague Gary Cohn (L), president and COO, attend a speech by U.S. President Barack Obama about new financial regulation at Cooper Union in New York April 22, 2010. Obama scolded Wall Street on Thursday for its “furious efforts” to fight tighter regulation, saying the United States was doomed to another financial crisis if reforms were not implemented. )