Bankers Pledge Cooperation With Obama

By ERIC DASH
NYT

WASHINGTON — In a bit of political stagecraft designed to quiet the public’s anger toward Wall Street, President Obama summoned the heads of some of the nation’s largest financial institutions to the White House on Friday and urged them to accept responsibility for their industry’s excesses.

The 13 chief executives emerged from the 90-minute meeting pledging to cooperate with the administration’s efforts to shore up the banking industry and the broader economy. On a bright day with the cherry blossoms in bloom, administration officials and the bankers presented a unified message to the nation: We’re all in this together.

Indeed, the gathering was carefully choreographed by the White House, which had asked the banks on Thursday to provide broad, public endorsements of the administration’s financial recovery program, according to bank officials. And so, with the White House in the backdrop, one smiling executive after another offered his support for the president’s efforts in several television interviews coordinated by the administration.

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