Obama golfs with Robert Wolf / AP
President Obama’s campaign attacked Mitt Romney with an ad over a Bain Capital affiliate’s investment in “a company called Global Tech [that] maximized profits by paying its workers next to nothing under sweatshop conditions in China.” But Global Tech has other investors — and as it happens, one of them is a top Obama advisor, fundraiser, and golf buddy.
ABC News observed “that there is no evidence Romney had an active role in sending any American jobs to China or in approving the specific investment in Global Tech.” Now meet Robert Wolf, who was president of UBS Investment Bank until July of this year. UBS increased its modest Global Tech holdings by 73 percent in June, according to NASDAQ. Fortunately for Wolf, Obama’s apparent distaste for Global Tech investors did not bar him entry to the White House. Wolf is listed on the White House website as a member of Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. He also served on Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board from 2009 to 2011.
Obama’s relationship with Wolf goes beyond the professional, though. Wolf “golfs and vacations with Mr. Obama and is known for e-mailing friends photos of himself with the president,” The New York Times noted in June. UBS tried “to muzzle Mr. Wolf,” who was fielding a lot of Obama-related press inquiries, but he left the company shortly after the Wall Street Journal branded him “a ‘fat cat’ with the president’s ear.” Wolf has raised over $500,000 for President Obama’s reelection campaign.
In a 2009 CBS interview, Obama denounced the “fat cat bankers on Wall Street” who “don’t get it” and “caused the problem” with the U.S. economy. Obama expressed disappointment then that “so far, at least, I haven’t seen lot of shame on their part.” At least he seems willing to forgive his friends.
