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The Obama Watch
Chamber Music in the Key of Big G
In yesterday’s speech President Obama proudly came across as a New Deal anti-capitalist “moderate” convinced government has much to teach business.
President Barack Obama’s speech to the Chamber of Commerce (video & transcript) on Monday morning offered the latest example of a man who wants to appear to be moderating while remaining “same guy” he’s been for two years (or for his whole adult life), to support business while refusing to back away from Obamacare, the most job killing legislation in generations, and to want to cut government spending while offering reductions in discretionary spending that over the course of a decade save barely a quarter of this year’s federal budget deficit.
It was a speech full of the internal contradictions necessary from a man whose mindset has always been anti-capitalist and anti-compromise, and who is trying to reconcile those traits with the “shellacking” his party took in November.
The president began by acknowledging his tense relationship with the Chamber: “Maybe we would have gotten off on a better foot if I had brought over a fruitcake when we first moved in.” Polite but unimpressed laughter ensued, as if the attendees knew what was coming next.
After two years of leaving business out in the cold during every major policy discussion costing a few hundred billion dollars or more, Obama claimed to have “exchanged ideas” and “sought advice from many” of the Chamber’s members. He claimed to have found “common cause” with the Chamber on the “Recovery Act” aka the “Stimulus” aka “Porkulous,” but couldn’t name any other legislation passed under his Administration that the nation’s leading business organization supported, noting that “on other issues, we’ve had some pretty strong disagreements.” You don’t say.
Obama lapsed into a brief history of economic competition and globalization, noting that “these forces are as unstoppable as they are powerful” before injecting the first evidence that he was telling the truth to Bill O’Reilly when he said “I haven’t” when asked whether he’s “moving to the center”: “[Americans] see a widening chasm of wealth and opportunity in this country, and they wonder if the American Dream is slipping away.” While recent polls emphasize huge declines in public satisfaction with both government and major corporations, there is no evidence of the sort of class warfare jealousy regarding a “chasm of wealth” that Barack Obama himself has currently accepted (as demonstrated by his words to Joe the Plumber and a later statement that “at a certain point you’ve made enough money”).
Obama’s anti-capitalist view informs every policy preference and tinges even his most blatant attempt at economic “moderation” on his part.
It’s also worth noting that the decline in satisfaction with government is down more than satisfaction with corporations, and that much of the current fad of bashing companies comes from the anti-business cheerleaders at the White House and within the Democratic caucus in Congress.
The president then lapsed into the primary theme of the speech: a bland rehashing of the State of the Union address with another call to “out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build our competitors” in order to “win the future” — a phrase which Charles Krauthammer suggests will be Obama’s 2012 campaign bookend to “Yes, we can!” and the acronym for which, WTF, Sarah Palin cleverly appropriated.
And here is where the real Obama comes through.
He claims that “winning the future” is “a job for all of us,” completely missing the point that what most businesses really want is for government to get out of the way, not “help” as it did with, for example, the residential real estate market or with Obamacare’s massive cost and impending regulatory burdens, or with his EPA’s desire to control most of the economy through regulating carbon dioxide, a non-toxic substance almost entirely naturally occurring, the primary use of which is as plant food.
Strangely, for a man who just a few minutes earlier had said that “businesses can now open up shop, employ workers and produce their goods wherever there is Internet connection,” Obama then proposed “connecting 80 percent of the country to high-speed rail,” a boondoggle so large that it could dwarf even the massive money pit that is “green energy.” He also wants to “make it possible for companies to put high-speed Internet coverage in reach of virtually all Americans.” Perhaps he doesn’t realize that that possibility already exists — and that government had almost nothing to do with it (except for our undying gratitude to Algore for inventing the Internet). As always with Obama, the answer is government.
But the worst part of Barack Obama’s speech was his attempt to channel President John F. Kennedy — the man who gave America its single largest federal income tax cut as a percentage of GDP (1.9%) and as a percentage of the federal budget (8.8%).
Warning businesses that they “also have a responsibility to America,” Obama patronized: “But ultimately, winning the future is not just about what the government can do to help you succeed. It’s about what you can do to help America succeed.”
It’s a telling statement, so desperately wrong in its underlying premises that the assembled CEOs must have wondered whether an American president could actually be so clueless. Well, they might have wondered had they not lived through the past two years.
First, future success should be as little about government as possible; Obama’s phrasing makes it clear that he believes government is at least as important as business in national economic success. Second — and I know our liberal friends and even some conservatives won’t like to hear this — businesses have a responsibility to their shareholders and employees. They don’t have a duty to the nation other than to abide by its laws. Instead, the actions of government should be such that they engender rational economic loyalty to the nation, much as Hong Kong and Singapore have among businesses domiciled there.
About the Author
Ross Kaminsky is a self-employed trader and investor and is a senior fellow of the Heartland Institute. He is the host of The Ross Kaminsky Show on Denver’s NewsRadio 850 KOA at 11 AM on most Sundays. You can reach Ross by e-mail at rossputin(at)rossputin(dot)com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (55) | Leave a comment
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Appleby| 2.8.11 @ 6:42AM
The president began by acknowledging his tense relationship with the Chamber: "Maybe we would have gotten off on a better foot if I had brought over a fruitcake when we first moved in."
How many people said sotto voce to their neighbours, *He IS a fruitcake!*
USSAlabama| 2.8.11 @ 12:25PM
We all thought it, I bet.
Every claim he makes to understand the "challenges business face" is met with an equal and opposite expensive government regulation.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 2.8.11 @ 6:42AM
The funny thing is that Obama's speech was full of outdated concepts.
For instance, do corporations really have a responsibility to America anymore?
America has done everything possible to sabotage innovation and creativity and spontaneity in the workplace, yet here is Obama claiming that is what we need.
The speech was hubris wrapped in arrogance masquerading as insight.
Last year there were 1.4 million jobs shipped overseas and slightly less then 1 million jobs created here. Forget the fact that most were minimum wage.
The response last year was to pass 3 major pieces of legislation chock full of gender and racial preferences. These preferences are the real job killers forcing corporations redesign jobs and ship many overseas.
The only thing clear about Obama is that he's good at spewing BS by the ton. The reality is that no one with any sense believes him.
Until the job killing Obamacare agenda is finally decided there will be no growth, there will be no jobs and there will be no Obama in the White House in 2012.
Obama can say anything he wants but it won't change the reality that the regulatory environment in the USA strangles the life out of many businesses. This is particularly true of small companies who also have to file many state forms.
Income in America continues to drop even for those working. All the good intentions flowing out of D.C. are being passed by elitist morons who haven't got a clue what it takes to create wealth and couldn't care less about the unintended consequences of killing millions of jobs.
In the meantime we have a President who is too stupid to realize that just saying something doesn't make it happen. If he means what he says, then he needs to roll up his sleeves and have a summit with business leaders and take their laundry lists to heart and suspend the regulations which are job killers. And there are thousands of them.
Don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.
Obama is surrounded by stooges who like to write things, but have little experience in the real world.
And that's the bottom line. The administration is chock full of inexperienced bozos who have never accomplished anything but have a vision of solidarity. In essence, what we have is the blind leading us in circles while the President rides a merry go round of hubris.
Stephanie| 2.8.11 @ 7:33AM
I still can figure out if the guy is stupid or just plain doesn't give a hoot what the American people think or want. And judging from the interview with O'Reilly on Sunday, he still doesn't get it that he IS hated.
SpiralArchitect | 2.8.11 @ 1:56PM
The only thing that overtakes his narcosicism is the high degree of vanity he posseses - each blocking out the other.
He is not stupid, he simply despises America.
How about his wife, you know, the one that actually (publicly) stated 'this is the first time in my life I am proud to be an American" after The Community Organizer, B.O. , became...President.
To think that is one thing, but to publicly say as much - really? That is why Dr Savage decrys Liberalism as a mental illness - I reckon Marxism is included.
qwilly| 2.8.11 @ 7:57AM
It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool,
then to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Such as was done here.
LiveFreeOrDie| 2.8.11 @ 6:37PM
EXACTLY!
I keep wondering about the O, ignorant or clever? Is he a conniving marxist with a fool-proof plan or a total idiot with some acting skills? The fact he'd even attempt this speech has me leaning towards the latter.
Chalkdust| 2.8.11 @ 8:05AM
Well listen...John McCain said Obama was moving to the middle and we all know McCain is a man of the peeps...... I just can't figure out why McCain is not president (or selling cars).
Anybody who thinks that Barry has the best interest of America at heart and can be trusted, wouldn't know a muddy dog track from the Declaration of Independence.
coal carrier| 2.8.11 @ 8:06AM
This guy has his agenda and will stick with it. All the talk about him moving to the center, reading about Reagan, consulting Clinton on how to work with the Republican Congress or that he is now going to work with American companies, is all BS. How many times does this guy have to lie about what his intentions are before he is not taken seriously? Hopefully the American voter will not be fooled by this and will end his reign in 2012.
Redstateboy| 2.8.11 @ 2:19PM
Jim DeMint said it best after the SOU address.. basically... I don't believe what he says anymore.
Larry| 2.8.11 @ 8:13AM
638 more days and we get to vote out the communist in chief, the America hater, the "man" with no past, America's first sultan, America's first Kenyan president.
Hey Barry, where's the birth certificate? The college records?
chemman| 2.8.11 @ 10:25AM
Even if we obtained the college records they would only prove that someone took the classes with the name BHO. I am convinced he had others sit in and take his classes for him.
SpiralArchitect | 2.8.11 @ 1:59PM
Larry, I politely disagree. He is a Marxist.
chemman, yes, why spend over $2 million to keep from publicly posting certain documents -
Three Jeers for the Commander In Cheat!
blackknights1802| 2.8.11 @ 5:34PM
I would like to know where did he get the money to attend Occidental, Columbia and Harvard.
Impeach Don't Wait| 2.8.11 @ 9:18PM
"I would like to know where did he get the money to attend Occidental, Columbia and Harvard."
Many, many students are offered financial aid and/or loans for college. He didn't necessarily cheat to pay for it. It's very common for students of lower-to-middle class to obtain. Even at Harvard. And don't mistake it for "Affirmative Action." Most colleges make funds available for the financially challenged. Combination of donors, loan programs, part-time work, etc.
Doctor Right| 2.8.11 @ 8:15AM
When Obama speaks, he generally does so with the self-assurance of college sophomore doing bong-hits in his dorm-room and pontificating on matters he knows little about, all to impress the gullible freshman girls.
L'il Barry knows little of how business runs or operates, or the relationship between business profits and expansion. He thinks the primary concern of business is to provide jobs, as opposed to turning profits. But he sure looks confident when he says it, doesn't he?? Like freshman college girls, the gullible sheep in the Democrat Party are duly impressed!
In other words, this over-pedigreed, under-educated poppin-jay does not understand that profits CREATE jobs, and big profits create LOTS of jobs.
The CoC audience clapped twice yesterday; once, when O-Barry told a joke, and again when he finished.
What a buffoon. And his lack of self-awareness combined with his cocky self-assurance speaks to his preening narcissism. It's a narcissism that the GOP would do well to exploit in the run-up to 2012.
Larry| 2.8.11 @ 8:26AM
Or could it be that he just hates business? Probably a combination of all of these things.
A. C. Santore| 2.8.11 @ 10:31AM
O.K., here's the Obama quote from that speech that reveals the REAL truth:
""If we're fighting to reform the tax code and increase exports, the benefits cannot just translate into greater profits and bonuses for those at the top. They have to be shared by American workers, who need to know that opening markets will lift their standard of living as well as your bottom line."
This is the new standard for truth - replacing "crystal clear."
Tell me, what more do we need to know about his agenda?
KRC| 2.8.11 @ 11:18AM
Well said. Obama will say anything (lies included) necessary at this point to get elected in 2012 thus allowing him to revert to his first two Marxist years in office. He relies on the predictable stupidity and apathy of the American sheep. Sorry to say.
WilliamInWien| 2.8.11 @ 8:28AM
The man cannot stop using his "gift". If he is "clueless", then so are his speechwriters. On the other hand, I believe they (BHO and his advisors) are reading from a different sheet and we are the ones who are "clueless" if we fail to realize the plan that they have for this country. Does anyone know of any high speed rail system in a country as large as ours that does not require massive government support?
Stan REdmond| 2.8.11 @ 10:21AM
They all are clueless. He has surrounded himself with ignorant idiots who are so educated they know nothing. His entire cabinet is full of idiots. He appointed two clueless idiots to the supreme court. I said from the beginning Hillary is dangerous because she knows what she's doing. Obama is more dangerous because he doesn't have a clue.
Old Guy| 2.8.11 @ 1:26PM
Wrong. Obama is dangerous because he knows exactly what he is doing, in accordance with his plan to ruin this country. Thinking he is doing all this because he "doesn't have a clue" will only hurry the catastrophe.
Stan Redmond| 2.8.11 @ 2:55PM
I don't know about that. I just don't see Obama as being smart. I think he is a truly stupid man. There is nothing smart or intelligent.
BackToBasics| 2.8.11 @ 6:36PM
I agree with you about the purposeful destruction. He's not so smart but he's smart enough. He's bitter towards strong, mostly white national powers. Anyone can be bitter and destructive. They don't have to be smart to be that way.
And he has lot's of help. Dems have wanted a communist state here since at least the early 70's and arguably earlier.
And as an aside, I think FDR was a socialist but I do not think he wanted a communist state. I think he could have had one during the depression if he had wanted to.
Gretchen| 2.8.11 @ 7:11PM
My late Mother had the perfect description for Obama and those in his cabinet, etc. "Educated fools."
MoeBlotz| 2.8.11 @ 9:05AM
Big Government attacks on corporations are attacks on me. My portfolio holds a couple hundred shares of Moog,Caterpillar,PACCAR,Ford,Apple,and Boston Brewing. I will never get rich off my miniscule holdings,but I have sunk my hard earned cash into shares that I hope will sustain me through the failure of Social Security. Barry sees small investors such as I to be turkeys ripe to be plucked.
David W| 2.8.11 @ 9:12AM
I think President "there are those who have made too much money" Obama would be taken more seriously (ha ha ha) if he were to announce that he would give away 75% of his estimated $10 million to charity (Salvation Army, Red Cross, etc.). Of course, he won't.
P.S. - for some please remember the difference between then (related to time) and than (comparison).
PaulD| 2.8.11 @ 9:50AM
David, until I started reading comments online, it never occurred to me that there was such confusion over then/than. I don't like to criticize people's grammar because mine ain't no good sometimes neither, but it is a disturbing trend.
Ned| 2.8.11 @ 10:46AM
More disturbing yet - my e-mail application grammar and spell-checker (made by The Evil Empire in Redmond, WA) informed me the other day that my usage of "than" in a sentence was incorrect, and I should use "then"... the only thing "incorrect" was the application.
WRTolkas| 2.8.11 @ 11:42AM
Gentlemen:
Than expresses a comparison: Obama is dumber than a grapefruit.
Then expresses a progression of events in time: Obama was president then a good Republican took his place.
Its/It's, advice/advise, and effect/affect are good ones to watch also. I keep a list and proper use by my computer.
I hope this helps,
WRTolkas
Tim the Enchanter| 2.8.11 @ 1:31PM
Hey! I happen to LIKE grapefruit!
Kurt in S.L.C.| 2.8.11 @ 10:00PM
I like grapefruit too. But I just want to EAT them, Not be RULED by them
Anthony| 2.8.11 @ 9:15AM
This unaccomplished thin skinned clown of a president and his warped advisors have attempted to channel every president since Washington to make Obozo appear to be relevant. His most recent plagerism of Kennedy should make O'Biteme angry with envy.
Apparently, Obozo admitted to O'Reilly (another insufferable egotist) that he and his advisors are in a bubble. Indeed they are, in fact, the entire left lives in that same bubble.
America has two years to rid itself of Obama and the left. The damage they have done, and continue to do, with hubris and arrogance is placing America at the tipping point of history. RINOS's like McCain and Graham had best wake the hell up or they'll be swept away with Obozo and the left. Now there's something to look forward to!!!
Ken (Old Texican)| 2.8.11 @ 9:31AM
I'll say it again:
Small business can't find a federal teat, and the big companies try to.
A. C. Santore| 2.8.11 @ 9:43AM
Completely by accident (honest), I turned on the TV just when Obama was lecturing a crowd of businessmen about how to run a business, and then gently ordering them to create jobs.
I gagged and turned the TV back off.
Albert| 2.8.11 @ 10:23AM
President Bozo telling the Chamber of Commerce that he is pro-business while pushing his job- and economy-killing programs is akin to the guard at Auschwitz telling his "customers" that they are all going to take a shower.
I think we need to look at Bozo's agenda under a different light. This guy isn't just wrong on economics. That is, it would be incorrect to say that he really believes his aganda will "strengthen" the economy and provide jobs. He and his handlers know full well they are killing the American economy and they are doing it on purpose. This makes them not "wrong," but evil. Bozo wants people out of work. He wants jobs to go overseas. He wants companies to go bankrupt. He wants bailouts and takeovers. An economic crisis, even a wholly manufactured one like the current recession, is an opportunity for a government takeover of the economy as a whole. OBozo-care is just one step, and it is one step they will never give up on. Let me be clear, Bozo wants American economic collapse so that government can come to the rescue and end capitalism and free markets altogether, supplanting it with the artificial economics and totaliarianism of socialism.
Baldy| 2.8.11 @ 10:46AM
I find it hard to believe that anyone would pay money and waste time to go listen the other day.
What was it 1,2 hours?
There's time off your life better spent picking lice off a monkeys back.
russel| 2.8.11 @ 11:28AM
All this moron does is TALK . Now we hear he's going to " be out on the campaign trail " , as if he ever left . Ol' AF1 has more miles on it than a NY taxi . But , does anyone care to listen to those purple lips -a-flappin' anymore ? . I doubt he could fill up a high school gym now .
Clint| 2.8.11 @ 12:02PM
This Alinskiite Socialist Obama has "Compromised Americans' Future".
Obama Is Beatable.
American Voters & Business Will Vote their Wallets In 2012.
We Start Vetting & Drafting Real Conservative Candidates Now.
The Tea Party Rebellion Escalates.
Rise Up.
skip| 2.8.11 @ 1:03PM
With the staggering amount of lies uttered by the idiot-in-chief these past two years, can you imagine the magnitude of lies that will be uttered by the idiot-in-chief during his 2012 reelection campaign?
Pete| 2.8.11 @ 12:19PM
I love it. Osama decrees to American businesses "Thou shalt create jobs, so that I may be re-elected." The same day, the government "study" on Toyota comes out, providing a perfect example of what this administration is willing to do in terms of picking winners and losers. Priceless.
Richard| 2.8.11 @ 12:53PM
You can't believe a word this guy says. He contradicts himself more than an adulterer talking to his spouse. The Chamber's lack of applause showed that at least the audience knows what is real.
Steve A| 2.8.11 @ 1:38PM
His speech could be summed up as such: "Dear chamber. I do not want to be here but I need to appear to be playing nice to the business community. I do not care for you people & we both know it. I have attempted, over the past 2 years, to demonstrate that jobs can be created through Big Government intervention, printing $$, bailouts, loans & excessive government spending. I know in my heart, my plan is correct & will ultimately succeed. However, I need to get reelected so could you all please go out & hire some people & spend some $$ you are hoarding so I can look good?" Thanks & good night
BackToBasics| 2.8.11 @ 3:48PM
Not only are his government economic stimulus programs heavy construction 1930's-style it's even worse. He mostly mouths this type of stimulus and instead spends most of the the money via state grants to keep social service spending going.
Gov't is not the way to go but I could sympathize a little if he pushed stimulus in science and technology instead of mouthing 1930's platitudes with nothing to show even on that level to boot.
BackToBasics| 2.8.11 @ 3:57PM
clarification - Not that I advocate it but when I pay pushing for science and thechnology I mean real science and technology, not phony, money-wasting green technology. If he did the former I'd have at least some grudging respect for such a stimulus program. But better altogether if gov't let private sector businesses create growth and opportunites.
Radioman777| 2.8.11 @ 4:32PM
Reading from the transcript, it could have easily been any party apparatchik from any Cold Ware eastern European country you care to name doing the speaking.
Radioman777| 2.8.11 @ 4:33PM
Sorry "War", not "Ware", although we don't want whatever wares he happens to be selling.
jlibertas| 2.8.11 @ 7:40PM
let's all admit the obvious - BO is a radical hell bent on destroying our country... now what is the next step? we shouldnt be afraid 2 speak out, not with all the support mr husein gave the egyptian protesters
Negro X| 2.8.11 @ 9:16PM
The COC has supported every scam obama has come up with TARP, bailouts, illegal immgration etc. Both are liars.
GavInTucson| 2.8.11 @ 11:45PM
One of my favorite little gems in his speech was his belief that the purpose of business is to hire people. Really? I thought the purpose of business was to make money. Hiring people is just a byproduct of a company's need to expand to meet an increased demand for a product or service.
I'm quite sure there's a McDonald's in D.C. Can we make him an honorary manager at one of those establishments for thirty days? We can even give him a biodegradable hat.
Just thirty days of management in the private sector would be good for him. He'll garner a wealth of experience and learn a lot, because clearly this man is out of his depth when it comes to anything business.
Businesses don't hire worthless employees they can't afford or don't need. Government on the other hand...
Of course, perhaps he's confusing the purpose of business with the purpose of government bureaucracy.
Bob Miller| 2.9.11 @ 2:16PM
Some people will praise every transparently obvious move Obama makes to mislead the nation or segments thereof into backing him. I hope for their sake and ours that the business community and its organizations don't buy the lie. Unfortunately, some big companies are happily on the Obama gravy train, to the detriment of our economy.
Christian Louboutin | 6.23.11 @ 6:19AM
It was a speech full of the internal contradictions necessary from a man whose mindset has always been anti-capitalist and anti-compromise, and who is trying to reconcile those traits with the "shellacking" his party took in November.
Reebok | 8.11.11 @ 4:05AM
is good
العاب | 4.11.12 @ 4:38PM
Or could it be that he just hates business