Someone's a little full of the power of his network apparently.
On Sept. 20, CNBC hosted a so-called "town hall" meeting on its network about President Barack Obama and how his administration is dealing with business issues. Obama took some criticism from participants and observers said the president was playing defense. However, CNBC's "Mad Money" host Jim Cramer had a different take on the made-for-television event. According to Cramer, Obama's appearance was a net-positive for the stock market.
"Do you know why this market went up and stayed up today, with the Dow voting 146 points, S&P rising one-and-a-half percent?" Cramer said on his Sept. 20 broadcast. "Because today during the fantastic CNBC-hosted town hall with El Presidente, we got the ultimate confirmation that we are seeing a new and improved more pro-business President Obama! And that's change the market can believe in."
Cramer had earlier in the day pronounced the town hall a "win" for Obama and the stock market, but he backtracked somewhat by saying it wasn't what Obama said. Instead, he explained it was what Obama didn't say.
"All right, Obama didn't cause this rally, but he allowed it to happen," Cramer said. "In the past, the class-warrior Obama would have stopped this move in its tracks. The new happy-warrior Obama - well, let's just say he has learned how to get out of the market's way. Yet I know for a fact that many of you don't want to believe yourselves and lots of people shorted the stock market ahead of the town hall. They were betting that Obama would send the market down like he has for so long. Wrong."
Cramer also noted the criticism he received from the "blogosphere" over his remarks, calling it evidence people were aware of his proclamation.
"I know many of you don't believe in the benign Obama because of the firestorm of criticism I've received in the blogosphere for suggesting that the president has changed his tune," Cramer continued. "I've been taking just an enormous amount of heat for this."
While Cramer is self-congratulating his network's Obama-featured town hall, some analysts credited stronger homebuilder data and other signs the recession is over for the sharp rise in the market.
