For progressives and the millions that voted for President Obama one early decision will tell us whether or not the President is really on our side ... or whether he is going to sell out over issues like Social Security reform.
Four years ago Obama picked Larry Summers and Tim Geithner for his top economic positions. That was the day I knew that for all Obama's good intentions he had sold his soul to the bankers. And so it turned out. Geithner and Summers have banker DNA. They were able to surround the President and present only their case for our the economy (and Wall Street) works.
The central theme of the bankers was that nothing illegal was done leading up to the financial crisis. It was just all bad decisions by well meaning people. Despite reams of information to the contrary almost no prosecutions were undertaken of those who caused much of the crisis (YES ... there was clear fraud in many cases by major financial institutions). Summers and Geithner sold the President on the need for stability and that any prosecutions would hurt or damage the economy (kind of the same idea as not prosecuting Bush officials for torture). Wall Street walked away pretty much scott free.