All of the talk about the AIG bonuses is probably just distracting talk from Congress and the Administration.
The gov't practically owns AIG and I would be willing to bet that AIG's CEO probably checked with senior gov't leaders before paying out these bonuses. Given all of the public outrage and controversy that we have seen recently when other companies paid out bonuses, the CEO would have to be an idiot not to expect a similar outcry, therefore he must have been given the OK to do this.
Having the President saying that he will take all legal steps possible to get these payments back is just a smoke screen and he knows it.