Forgetting the obvious political embarrassment, the fact that Richard Holbrooke served on AIG's board of directors from 2001-2008 just shows what a farce Wall Street had become. Richard Holbrooke is rather learned about brokering peace in Yugoslavia. But he knows very little about overseeing managers charged with overseeing traders charged with gaming the credit default swap market. What he would know a lot about, conversely, is the phone numbers of powerful politicians you might want to call if you were worried about this or that regulatory matter coming before the Congress. Which is presumably how he earned his $800,000 in compensation.
