populism

The outrage over AIG bonuses is dying down, but it is only being replaced by a blame game. According to critics, President Obama went too far in his populist pronouncements against banks, and his administration, led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, is bungling the rescue effort. Banking executives have piled on, telling The Washington Post [...]

In the end a slight majority of Republicans opposed levying a 90 percent tax on bonuses for companies that take TARP money — another signal of how complicated the populist politics of this issue are for the GOP.
Republicans are pushing two arguments now. One, that the scandal is not over until names are named (hint: [...]

Cultural populism has helped Republicans win many an election. Why haven’t liberals found a way to counter it?