Barron – President Obama took credit Wednesday for the recovery in the financial markets while at the same time decrying Wall Street’s profits and the big bonuses that will be paid out as a result.

In his prime-time news conference, Obama said that if shaming those on Wall Street who take home multi-billion-dollar bonuses doesn’t work, he vowed to make sure shareholders of those companies were made aware of the compensation being doled out.

In the absence of "remorse" of Wall Streeters for raking in big paychecks once again, the president said financial regulatory reform would be necessary to prevent banks from taking risks that he said caused the financial crisis necessitating government bailouts.

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Associated Press – President Barack Obama is trying to dampen a fire he once stoked, urging a more tempered response to public furor over bonuses paid to executives of the publicly rescued insurance giant American International Group.

Obama is virtually certain to use Tuesday’s prime-time news conference to continue an effort that began over the weekend: cooling the anti-AIG ferocity, now that it threatens to undermine his efforts to bail out the nation’s deeply troubled financial sector.

Obama’s tone changed dramatically after the House voted last week for targeted taxes to take back most of the $165 million in bonuses paid to AIG executives. Many lawmakers felt Obama had encouraged their step, because he called the bonuses reckless, outrageous and unjustified.

In the White House, however, the situation seemed to be spinning out of control. Some fellow Democrats questioned the constitutionality and wisdom of the House’s action. Executives of other troubled companies signaled they would not make deals with a federal government that revises agreements after they are signed.

On Sunday, Obama told CBS’ "60 Minutes" the House’s plan to slap a special tax on the AIG executives would be unconstitutional. Borrowing a line from his Feb. 24 speech to Congress, he said he would not "govern out of anger."

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