President Obama gave certain hedge fund manager types who held out for “an unjustified taxpayer bailout,” as he put it, a dressing down in the midst of his comments about Chrysler’s bankruptcy filing on Thursday. Needless to say, that didn’t go over so well with the targeted demographic.

The Wall Street Journal:

The comments, which came after an unnamed administration official went so far as to say the holdouts weren’t acting in the national interest, overshadowed some of the details of the historic Chapter 11 filing and news of Chrysler’s alliance with Fiat SpA (FIATY). The fact that Obama expressed his displeasure more than once during his remarks seemed to indicate he was picking a fight with hedge funds, and it didn’t play well with many on Wall Street.

“So what?” said Phil Goldstein, who runs Bulldog Investors, referring to the decision by some funds to hold out. “Aren’t you entitled to reject a deal?” said Goldstein, who has railed against hedge-fund regulation in the past.

Henry Bregstein, who is co-managing partner at law firm Katten Muchin Rosenman and who represents hedge funds, said it is possible that accepting the government’s offer could have theoretically exposed the funds that Obama criticized to lawsuits from investors.

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#bailout#bankruptcy#barack obama#chrysler#hedge fund#taxpayer#wall street