Norman: That seems to be his style. He’s one of these harmony, ideology guys. I mean, if you look at who he has as his advisers, his team right around him – you look at Geithner, you look at Summers – these are people from the former administration; at least Summers was very much associated with the Robert Rubin coterie that was involved in the ‘90s, where that brought forth a lot of this deregulation in financial markets. And, he doesn’t seem to want to separate himself from these individuals, in spite of this outrage that’s building in the electorate.

Fichera: I think he wants to have insight from other people and such. I don’t think he wants those people on the outside. But the rise of Paul Volcker, who is a friend of mine and a colleague from Princeton, who was on the outs from … in terms of life in the media, in terms of where Larry Summers and Geithner were, and bringing Paul back in, and listening to him, and bringing that economic advisory council, perhaps would … and Bill Donaldson, also there, a former SEC chairman and a Republican on that dais as well, in terms of what they wanted to do, I think is signaling a shift.

But still, the president is very what we call “seminar smart,” as opposed to political smart. And he understands the technical and wants to go walk through those things, and then make a decision. People are needing bold action, now. As I said, the focus is all going to be on this election and whether we can, in this window of opportunity, starting with his State of the Union address, and whether we get Bernanke back and just some sort of settlement in terms of certainty, and then move in terms of the job creation, we can be hopeful.

But, you're right. There are so many head winds and forces against this. My optimism and pessimism keeps fighting back.

Norman: All right. So, still a little bit cautious, but hopeful, nonetheless.

Fichera: I think there are things in place that this adversity can turn into opportunity for the president.

Norman: Let’s hope so. All right folks, we’re going to end this portion of the interview now. But we will be back with the second part of my interview with Joseph S. Fichera. This is Mike Norman, signing off for now. Take care.