President Obama is bringing his war on Wall Street to the enemy’s turf.
He’ll make his pitch for financial reform in the heart of lower Manhattan Thursday – even as his team make hay of the Goldman Sachs fiasco with a tech savvy appeal to Democratic donors.
Internet surfers who entered “Goldman Sachs SEC” into Google were directed to the president’s campaign Web site via a sponsored link titled “Help Change Wall Street.”
The White House’s political arm paid for the keywords — but would not say how much.
The tactic provided the latest evidence of how Obama and the Democratic National Committee are using the Securities and Exchange Commission’s bombshell fraud suit against the financial giant to push financial-reform legislation through Congress.
But showing it, too, was gearing up for a political fight, Goldman Sachs hired Obama’s former White House counsel, Gregory Craig, Politico reported last night.
Meanwhile, Democratic former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, speculated yesterday that there was “no coincidence” to the timing of the SEC suit.
And Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) wrote in a letter sent to the SEC, “It must be nice for Democrats that the SEC’s filing against Goldman Sachs so conveniently fits into their political agenda.”
The White House denied any link between the legislative push and the regulator’s charges.
“The SEC doesn’t notify the White House of its enforcement actions, and certainly didn’t do so in this case,” presidential press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
“Quite honestly, there was plenty of evidence . . . before the SEC got involved of the need to create new rules of the road.”
The White House’s Internet ad campaign drew Goldman into a click-for-click clash of the search terms yesterday, with the financial house buying its own ads to compete with those purchased by the president’s team.
Goldman’s ad featured the company’s statement in response to charges filed Friday by the SEC.
The president’s political operation says the Internet push bought up numerous other relevant search terms and phrases and started days before the SEC action against Goldman. They say they bought the term “Goldman SEC” after the lawsuit was filed.
The links — some titled “Fight Wall Street Greed” — led to the Web site of the White House’s political arm, Organizing for America.
The page that users were directed to features a photo of Obama and the quote: “We’ve seen and lived the consequences of what happens when there’s too little accountability on Wall Street and too little protection for Main Street. It is time for real change.”