This is so rich. I mean the cajones on President Obama .. a day after the House passes his $825 billion spending package, Barack Obama actually stood there in the White House and complained about Wall Street bonuses and the need for responsibility.

He said that Wall Street employees getting paid more than $18 billion in bonuses last year is "the height of irresponsibility." He called it "shameful." Did you get that, folks? Shameful. "And part of what we're going to need is for the folks on Wall Street who are asking for help to show some restraint, and show some discipline, and show some sense of responsibility."

Restraint? Discipline? Responsibility?

And then we get this. This is the Barack Obama I have been afraid of. Obama went on to say, "There will be time for them to make profits, and there will be time for them to get bonuses ... Now is not that time." Yup ... there you go. The new President of the United States - the president who wrote of his affinity for Marxist professors and student groups while he was in college - the president who thinks that America's greatness comes from its government - this president is now telling the captains of industry when they can and cannot make a profit; when they can and cannot earn bonuses.

OK .. it is easy to gin up some anger toward an executive who takes a bonus while his company is getting bailout money from future generations of taxpayers. But I would like for you to consider just a few things.

First: Please remember that some of these Wall Street companies, specifically banks, made it clear that they didn't want any government bailout money. The Bush Administration told them that what they did and did not want didn't really matter all that much, they were going to take the bonuses, and they were going to sign over part ownership of their companies to the government whether they liked it or not.

Second: What are the details of these bonuses? Almost certainly they are being paid according to a contract. What are the terms of that contract? Let me suggest a scenario. Let's say that the AAA Investment Bank is in trouble. It looks like they're going to lose about $5 billion dollars because of past mismanagement. They go on a search for a new CEO who can turn things around. One of the candidates tells the search committee that there is no way he can prevent a loss .. but he might be able to limit that loss to $1 billion instead of the projected $5 billion. An agreement is reached that the new CEO will get a new bonus at the end of the year equal to ¾% of the difference between the projected loss and the actual loss. The CEO makes changes and takes actions that save the company, and the shareholders, $4 billion dollars. He gets his ¾% .. about $30 million. Tell me .. has he earned it?

But then comes the anti-capitalist president telling the nation how "shameful" it is that you've taken that bonus. Can we really judge whether or not those bonuses were shameful until we know the parameters upon which those bonuses were paid? Only if you're an anti-capitalist leftist with a love of government that surpasses any appreciation for the wonders of the free market.

Another question: Has anyone out there heard Obama say one thing about any of the many shameful shenanigans going on in government .. unless his comment was in the context of slamming George Bush? How about passing those tens of millions of dollars to buy condoms to the people as "stimulus?" That wasn't shameful? How about $50 million in welfare for artists who don't have the artistic skill to produce something that will sell in the private marketplace? That isn't shameful?

A window has opened. We have now seen Barack Obama's animosity toward capitalism out there in the open. More is certain to come.