Members of President BarackObama's team are reportedly extending an olive branch to the “fatcats” in banking and on Wall Street who nearly ran this economyinto the ground. That's fine and dandy, but when is a politiciangoing to make a similar gesture towards the insurance industry,which has done so much better by society than its more recklessfinancial sector counterparts?

“I think [the Obama administration] is starting to realize thatthe way he talks about business isn't inspiring confidence in theeconomy and is actually having a negative impact on the system,”according to one banking official quoted anonymously in the Sept.17 New York Post.

I don't normally swear by the Post's accuracy orobjectivity, especially when it comes to stories about Democratsand President Obama. However, this wasn't the only place I heardabout reconciliation.

The business community—reportedly sitting on a ton of idlecash—is afraid to start hiring due to the lack of certainty ontaxes, regulation, deficits, inflation and economic growth. Thus,it makes sense to reach out to reassure those who must create thetens of millions of jobs we'll need to jump-start this moribundeconomy, right?

The Post quoted an unnamed individual to report thatthe administration called a major consumer bank, seeking to easetensions. “They wanted to convey that 'we're all in this together,'and it wasn't 'us versus you,'” the source reported.

For the sake of argument, let's say reports about the WhiteHouse trying to make nice with the financial community are true.For those of you working in the insurance industry, however,doesn't this make you wonder why there is never any such outreachfrom lawmakers to your critical branch of financial services?

Too often—indeed, at almost every opportunity—insurance isdemonized, never given credit for the vital service the industryperforms in the economy and society, as well as for how soundly itmanages its business compared to banks with their toxic mortgagesand Wall Street with its equally poisonous securitized products andcredit default swaps?

I suppose the industry should be grateful its lobbyists conveyedthe message to policymakers on Capitol Hill that insurance was notthe problem in the recent economic meltdown. Insurers got offrelatively easy in the financial services reform law.

Indeed, there are those in this business—such as proponents of afederal charter or at least a strong Federal Insurance Office—whoare probably disappointed Congress did not go further with thereform bill.

Still, insurers more often than not are cast as villains in thepolitical dramas that play out in Washington and most statecapitals. And this shabby treatment extends beyond partyboundaries—I don't recall President George W. Bush telling propertyinsurers they'd done a heck of a job after Hurricane Katrina.

Why is it that Wall Street players and their colleagues in thebanking sector are so often treated with kid gloves, while insurersget beaten up when just a small percentage of claims are disputedfollowing a major catastrophe—or, at best, they're ignored whenthey perform well?

My contention has long been that if insurers don't want to bevictimized by political opportunists, they should stop acting likevictims. They need to get the word out that there is more to thisindustry than cute reptiles, funny cave men and cranky ducks.

Those marketing campaigns for GEICO and AFLAC are brilliant, butthey serve a limited purpose. This industry needs the same kind ofcreative firepower targeted at confronting the public and itselected officials about how much good insurers do, and how vitalinsurance is to the smooth functioning of our economic engine.

What do you folks think?