Obama Wants a Detente with Business
Once the midterm elections are over, the President plans to make up with business
By Julianna Goldman, Hans Nichols, Mark Drajem and Lizzie O'Leary
September 6, 2010 | Bloomberg Businessweek
[...]
Business vs. the Democrats
By many objective measures, most businesses are thriving and should have little to complain about. Corporate profits rose to a record $1.38 trillion in the second quarter, according to the St. Louis Federal Reserve. The Dow Jones industrial average is up more than 38 percent since Obama took office.
So why the criticism? "There is a venerable tradition of business being antagonistic to Democrats, even in instances when the policies are advantageous to them," says Fred I. Greenstein, a professor emeritus at Princeton University and author of books on Presidential leadership. The strain between the Administration and business "was similar for FDR, which was the period of the last great reregulation of the economy," says Bruce Buchanan, a professor of government at the University of Texas at Austin, referring to Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. "And there is an element of hurt feelings to it as well, which surprises me." Despite numerous meals with business leaders, the President seems to approach the relationship in a detached fashion, as if he were checking off a box, say executives who requested anonymity in order to speak freely.
[They want to feel the love! They're like sulky adolescents. What a sentimental bunch! - J]
No comments:
Post a Comment