Notice I said "if".
He didn't say what people are claiming that he said. There is no quote saying with him “begrudging” anything. There's only a lead in paragraph summarizing what Bloomberg feels the President said.
The money quote (apparently) was:
“I know both those guys; they are very savvy businessmen,” Obama said in the interview yesterday in the Oval Office with Bloomberg BusinessWeek, which will appear on newsstands Friday. “I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth. That is part of the free-market system.”
That's the closest the President comes to saying he doesn't "begrudge" anywhat. The whole context boils down to this: Holy shit, this is a lot of money. I don't want to crack on what people earn. This is a free-market economy, but damn.
It's a great system we've got set up. Obama criticizes Bankers, he's a Socialist. Obama defends the free market, he's clueless.
The Washington Independent has more.
