He’s got to be kidding. Look, I think the bonuses should be paid out because that’s what the contracts say and Congress didn’t ban it. But Americans in general are pissed beyond belief about their money going to executives of a bailed out company, and the White House chief of staff is going to tell them that it’s simply a “distraction”?

As angry as the president is at the news about A.I.G., which he learned Thursday, Mr. Emanuel said, “his main priority is getting the financial system stabilized, and he believes this is a big distraction in that effort.”

No matter where you stand on AIG sending out the bonuses, one can hardly chalk the situation up to a “distraction”. Greg Sargent points out the political stupidity here: Emanuel is blowing this off as a sideshow at a time when Obama’s political opponents are painting the White House as weak or passive on AIG. Is that really a politically smart move?

Basically the administration isn’t dealing with the situation was well as it would liked to. So now Emanuel will brush it off and paint it as something we shouldn’t be paying attention to. Predictable.

Via HAH.