I was initially torn by being one more of the 997,614 blog posts related to the Stewart v. Cramer cage battle on March 12, or being maybe the only financial blog that didn't chime in on the biggest mismatch this side of an 18-wheeler versus a squirrel. If you aren't up on the proceedings, you can click the photo at right for the full smackdown (which if you work in this industry and you haven't seen, you really MUST). USA Today, which pre-hyped this historic battle on its cover page had a terrific post-mortem of the TKO, which raises probably the most important question: What was Cramer thinking exactly and where was the CNBC PR department when you need them most?
Now, I'm not a fan of Cramer's show or his advice, and his schtick is a little sophomoric (the constantly rolled up sleeves and goofy sound effects), but I have come to admire the guy based on the size of the following he's been able to amass, and what I perceive to be a relatively high degree of naive sincerity (for a Wall St. icon) that the masses find appealing. That naive sincerity was certainly on full display with Stewart who took no prisoners with Cramer who had his tail between his legs long before Stewart rolled incriminating video clips #210-212.
In many ways, I think this actually was somewhat of a historic event and a bit of a sea change in this financial crisis. The Wall St. guys always think they are the smartest guys in the room (when in fact much of it is equal parts chutzpa and deceit as opposed to raw intelligence) and they know much better what's best for the economy than the poor unwashed masses. E.g., Stewart did well to caution Cramer to not talk to him like he was a five year old (prompting Cramer to talk like a four year old in quick deference).
Well, on full display, the unwashed masses had their day in the sun through Jon Stewart and the moral high ground. The clear message, which Wall St., Congress and both administrations handling the crisis have not been hearing finally got through: "We the People are fed up, not only with the financial institutions, the lies, the bonuses and lack of transparency, but with the media that supports this system. Not only that, but the people are much smarter than the government and Wall St. give them credit for, and collectively much more so than the likes of the ill-prepared Cramer and his weak-kneed apologies."
As an aside, I don't think this was faux populism on the part of Jon Stewart. His approach was straight from the heart and showed sincere and deep convictions. I have never seen Jon Stewart show as much reverence for any guest as he did a couple years ago for Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, who is one of the genuine populist leaders in South America.
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