Bank of America's Lewis Got Outplayed: Today's Outrage

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Bank of America(BAC) CEO Ken Lewis got outmaneuvered, outgunned and ultimately ousted.

I know the official story is that Lewis decided to retire at the end of the year, but we all know the back story. Lewis got outplayed and he's smart enough to know it.

There were too many enemies out for his head. In classic government fashion, those who sealed his fate also forced his hand. I don't doubt that former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson ordered Lewis to complete the Merrill Lynch takeover and keep a lid on any concerns about potential losses and big bonuses.

In the panic of the financial meltdown last year, the government assumed emergency powers that trumped all of our principles about shareholder rights and democratic process. We all accepted that in the interest of national economic security.

Bank of America wasn't alone. There were many abuses of shareholders, starting with the political decision to let Lehman Brothers fail and then bail out the rest of the industry. There were the big parties and bonuses at AIG (AIG), forgiven perhaps because the insurer is now owned by the U.S. government. There was the battle for Wachovia (WB) that Citigroup (C) lost and Wells Fargo (WFC) won. There was JPMorgan (JPM) swooping in on Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual.

Our government had a hand in all of that, but the cross hairs turned to Ken Lewis. Paulson managed a more graceful exit because of the changing of the guard at the White House. The Obama administration has plausible deniability.