WASHINGTON, April 21 (UPI) -- U.S. financial reform supporters are praising a White House ad using the case against Goldman Sachs to argue for reform but opponents say they are suspicious.
Internet users are directed to the ad by a link to barackobama.com that results from a Google search for "Goldman Sachs SEC," ABC News reported Tuesday. The ad features a pitch from President Barack Obama for public support for reform.
"We've seen and lived the consequences of what happens when there's too little accountability on Wall Street and too little protection for Main Street. It is time for real change," the quote reads.
A Democratic Party source told ABC the White House political wing, Organizing for America, purchased the ad as part of a larger strategy to use the Internet for political discussion.
"It is another great example of why the Obama Internet guys are the smartest guys on the block," Phil Noble, founder of Politics Online, a Web site specializing in the study of the use of the Internet in politics, said.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. -- the ranking Republican on the House Oversight committee -- was suspicious the ad was posted so close to the filing of a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit against Goldman Sachs.
"It must be nice for Democrats that the SEC's filing against Goldman Sachs so conveniently fits into their political agenda," Issa said in a letter to the SEC -- in which he asked whether the commission had any contact with the White House, the Democratic Party or members of Congress or their staff about the Goldman Sachs case before the civil charges were announced last week.
