“…There's a moral and an ethical aspect to this, as well…I think the most important thing that we can do is make sure that we put in a bunch of financial regulatory mechanisms to prevent companies like an AIG holding the rest of us hostage. Because that's –- that's the real problem….”

- President Barack Obama, speaking on the AIG corporate bailout controversy withTalk Show Host Jay Leno, March 19, 2009

It is noteworthy that President Obama chose to speak of “moral and ethical concerns” during his appearance on the “Tonight Show” last week.

The President is correct. The relationship between the AIG Corporation and the United States Federal Government is fraught with serious ethical and moral dilemmas. Yet, despite the President’s expressed “concerns,” he is mostly avoiding the many actual dilemmas entailed in this mess, while at the same time creating more ethical dilemmas for the United States with his own behavior.

Every tax-paying U.S. citizen became directly entangled in the AIG Corporation during the Fall of 2008, before Obama was President. At that time, the AIG Corporation had managed itself into disaster and came looking to the government for “help,” and in response, the previous Congress and President Bush infused the private corporation with public money.

Was it the right thing to do? That’s debatable. But we know this much: with the stroke of Bush’s pen, every American tax payer became not a “stockholder,” but a “stakeholder” in AIG - - that is, because “our money,” collectively speaking, had been given to the company, we all, collectively speaking, have a direct “stake” in the company’s success.

But that was last September. Since then there have been three additional infusions of our money into the AIG Corporation, the most recent one happening last month at the hand of President Obama. And here lies a moral dilemma that is being ignored: President Obama willingly accepted donations from AIG to his presidential campaign last year, and now this year he has handed-over billions of our tax dollars to the company.

Was it a “quid pro quo,” “return the favor” move from Obama? The situation certainly entails a conflict of interests. Given this, and given his recent desire to play the “give the money back” game, President Obama needs to start by giving back to AIG the money they gave him for his campaign. Sadly, there is no evidence that President Obama has any intention or desire to resolve this ethical dilemma. Continued...