This Week in Being Barack Obama

There was much rejoicing in DemocratLand on Monday morning when it was announced that Citigroup announced that it was paying back $20 billion in bailout funds - especially since it came on the heels of Obama's Sunday nite teevee performance when he called the Wall Street crew "fat cats" (which really is an insult to actual fat cats everywhere).

But, as this administration keeps showing everyone, all that glitters in those shiny objects is certainly not gold.

That is, unless you're Citigroup:

Citigroup gains massive tax break in deal with IRS

The federal government quietly agreed to forgo billions of dollars in potential tax payments from Citigroup as part of the deal announced this week to wean the company from the massive taxpayer bailout that helped it survive the financial crisis.

The Internal Revenue Service on Friday issued an exception to longstanding tax rules for the benefit of Citigroup and the few other companies partially owned by the government. As a result, Citigroup will be allowed to retain $38 billion in tax breaks that otherwise would decline in value when the government sells its stake to private investors.

While the Obama administration has said taxpayers likely will profit from the sale of the Citigroup shares, accounting experts said the lost tax revenue could easily outstrip those profits.

So, let's see...it's only Tuesday and so far Obama et al have sold out to Citigroup, Joe Lieberman, the Blue Dog Dems, insurance corporations, Big Pharma, various and sundry lobbyists, and Obama's approval numbers continue to tank.

I guess his Nobel War is Peace But It's Only an Aspirational Prize Anyway speech last week didn't give him enough of a bump in the eyes of the American public. Surely, his trip to Copenhagen will change that. Or not.