Charles Gasparino's 'Bought and Paid For' Details a Beautiful Love Story

Imus wasn’t thrilled that Charles Gasparino’s bio indicates that he “currently” works for the Fox Business Network, “as though there’s something else coming,” he said.

Then, in keeping with the spirit of good cheer he had already established, Imus thanked his guest for insincerely writing “Thanks for your support” inside his copy of Bought and Paid For, Gasparino’s new book that he describes as “a love story.”

“The easy media stereotype is that Wall Street and Obama hate each other,” Gasparino said. “Obama calls them ‘fat cats,’ calls them all these names, and is really at odds with Wall Street.”

In truth, however, Wall Street has done better than any other sector in the first two years of the Obama administration. In Bought and Paid For, Gasparino shows that this is no coincidence, and explains why Obama and Wall Street are actually joined at the hip.

It all began, he told Imus, back in 2007, when the leaders of the biggest banks in the world “flocked to support this guy,” thinking he was a moderate who would help them out. They were kind of right.

“I really believe that the benefits of ‘Obama-nomics,’ which is heavy government intervention in our economy, disproportionately helped these sort of crony capitalists…who feed off all these government subsidies and set-asides,” Gasparino said. “I really think that the average small businessman, the average guy on the street, has been shafted.”

Continuing on his Carl Jeffers-style rant, Gasparino highlighted how Obama’s connection to Wall Street began in a 2007 meeting “where some of the big Wall Street guys met with Obama, and kind of fell in love with him,” he said. “One Wall Street executive actually went door-to-door and campaigned for Barack Obama.”

Though financial regulation reform legislation was passed earlier this year, Gasparino posits it won’t hurt Wall Street. “They’ve got a lot of what they want,” he said. “Their banks are still together.”

After a few minutes spent protesting that he does not—despite all evidence to the contrary—hate Matt Taibbi, Gasparino told Imus that to see this story for what it really is, one must “take out the rhetoric.”

“This is a love affair,” he said of Obama and Wall Street’s relationship, which, though rocky at present, persists because the people heading up the biggest firms are as progressive as the President on issues like gun control and taxes.

“They would support his agenda,” Gasparino said. “My view is, when the rubber meets the road, and the Presidential election comes, they are going to support this guy.”

Accused of being irritated with the I-Man, Gasparino insisted otherwise, saying, “There’s something between us.”

Sort of like Obama and Wall Street.

-Julie Kanfer