Like the majority of the Americans that make an attempt to stay abreast of current events, I will be the first to admit that my patience has diminished with our current leadership. I did not vote for President Obama, however, I pledged to myself that I would give him the opportunity to govern without criticism. However, my patience is also growing very thin with his lack of leadership and judgement.

This week, I watched the Congressional hearing in regards to the bonus payments paid to employees of American International Group (AIG). I was embarrassed by the attitude and grandstanding demonstrated by our elected representatives. The tone and attitude of their questioning of Edward Libby, CEO of AIG was to say the least, very poor examples of leadership and representation. The controversial situation was the announcement that AIG would pay out $165 million dollars in bonus payments to their employees. AIG was the recipient of $170 billion dollars from the Stimulus Plan passed in February. Mr. Libby did not deserve the line of questioning that he received nor the rhetoric grandstanding and name calling. At the request of our government when it was announced AIG was in financial difficulty, he assumed the CEO position at a salary at $1.00 per year. The contracts for bonus payments were in placed at AIG prior to his assuming the position of CEO. They are legal binding contracts with no way to cancel them. Due to the stimulus money contributions, our government owns 80% of AIG.

The funding for this Stimulus Package was from that 1,100 page package that was passed in a matter of hours, without being read by those in the Senate or House of Representatives. That is where the money trail starts.

Secretary of Treasury, Timothy Geithner who was appointed to this position by President Obama. In his confirmation hearings, it was disclosed he had failed to pay federal income taxes on a large portion of his income over the past several years. However, this was overlooked and he was confirmed to the office. Prior to this, he was the Chief Executive Office of the Federal Reserve Bank in New York and had direct dealings with AIG.

Senator Christopher Dodd, (D-Conn), Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee has been a recipient of $223,000 in campaign donations from 2003 - 2008 from AIG.

During the conference hearing held by the Democrats on the $787 Stimulus Package, several members of Congress were present, including Senator Dodd, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif), Senator Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev).

Included in stimulus package was one single paragraph that permitted the payment of bonus funds out of the stimulus loans if the bonus payments had been contracted prior to February 11, 2009. In the case of AIG, the contractual agreements had been made one year ago. This paragraph had been inserted by amendment by Senator Dodd. The stimulus packaged was adopted by both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Obama.

During the 2008 Presidential campaign President Obama received over $100,000 in campaign contributions from AIG.

When the announcement was made that the AIG bonus payments would be paid, a firestorm started across the country. Senator Dodd immediately denounced the payments and said he knew nothing about them in advance. He later, recanted his story and admitted he played a role in having the paragraph inserted but affixed no date to the limitation. He admits that he acted at the "behest of the Obama administration". Speaker Nancy Pelosi is placing the blame on past President George Bush despite that he had left office 45 days prior to the concept of this stimulus package.

After treating Mr. Libby like a piece of trash in the Congressional hearings, the House hurriedly put a bill together and in less than a day passed a law that 90% of bonus money paid to executives of AIG would be taxable if they did not return the money. This law, is unconstitutional on two counts according to the lawyers versed in Constitutional Law. Those recipients of the bonus money could take this to court to contest the law. In the event this happens, it will cost the tax payers more money than the $165 million paid in the form of bonus payments. Although, I am not in favor of bonus funds that are excessive, in this particular case, if I were a recipient, I would choose to keep the money and challenge the government.

In this case, there is enough blame to go around.

Some of the blame has to be passed on all of our elected Representatives and Senators that voted in favor of the Stimulus Package without reading it. A total of $767 Billion dollars contained in 1,100 pages of documentation with less than eight hours to read and understand prior to voting.

The blame also must be placed on the desk of the President, he signed the bill into Law and it was through his crisis management leadership that pushed this bill through Congress. Was that single paragraph inserted as payback for political contributions?

Secretary of Treasury, Timothy Geithner who also had a conflict of interest due to his past positions as CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He was not acting in the best interest of the American public, for whom he took an Oath of Office to represent. Speculation on my part, but he was the go between person between the President and Senator Dodd.

Senator Dodd, has no excuse. First he denied any knowledge, then he admitted that he had inserted the paragraph permitting the payment of the bonus funds prior to February 11th. His campaign contributions from AIG and pressure from the White House most likely influenced his decision.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Reid, they can claim stupidity of the paragraph, however, they were leading the conference hearing on the Stimulus Package and according to their press reports were the primary writers of the bill.

The American public can be upset with the employees of AIG and even the CEO, Mr. Libby pertaining to the Bonus Payments, however their anger should also be aimed at those that permitted the situation to escalate and hold their elected officials responsible.

In summary, the payment of this Bonus Money is not the fault of AIG and especially the current CEO, Mr. Libby. It was a legally arbitrated contract between AIG and their employees prior to the decline of the economy. The actual payment of the bonus money could have been stopped by our Congressional Leaders and President stipulating in one small paragraph that the Stimulus Funds could not be used to pay Bonus Payments. The fault lays at he feet of our elected representatives, they are accountable.