Despite trumpeting his support during the campaign for the middle class and small business, President Obama will be hearing instead today from corporate chieftains at a crucial White House meeting staged to solicit the business community’s views just before talks on the “fiscal cliff” begin.
According to a report in Politico, the session will include at least 11 CEO’s of major U.S. corporations, among them the chieftains of Walmart, Dow Chemicals, Proctor & Gamble, and Ford. There does not appear to be any participation by representatives of small and medium businesses.
Obama Tuesday met with labor and progressive leaders. So non-union members of the middle class will not be heard from at either of Obama’s “listening sessions” this week.
He will gather Friday with congressional leaders to formally launch fiscal cliff negotiations.
Small and medium business representatives in Washington – like the National Federation of Independent Business and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce – tend to support Republicans because of what they view as GOP policies that are far more favorable to their interests. These groups, which represent thousands of the type of businesses Obama said during the campaign he wants to embrace, have been almost completely shut out from the White House during the four years of the Obama administration.
CEOs, by contrast, are more likely to back both Democrats and Republicans, in part because of the diverse political views of their large number of employees and the direct effect the administration can have on their bottom lines.
Today’s meeting has been described in the press as expected to be “tense,” but that’s not very likely. Several of the CEOs who will be present have donated as much or more to Democrats than Republicans, according to the website Opensecrets.org.
Xerox CEO Ursula Burns gave $3,000 to Obama’s 2008 Inauguration. American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault, according to the latest 2011-2-12 election cycle numbers, contributed more to Democrats than Republicans, and his wife Kathryn gave $5,000 to Obama’s reelection effort.
Both Burns and Chenault sit on Obama’s Jobs Council, which is chaired by another of today’s participants, General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt. What’s more, the White House has been laying the groundwork for today’s meeting with months of CEO hand holding, according to Bloomberg.
While excluding small business officials, Obama will gather today with CEOs from insurance and oil companies, two industries he savaged during the campaign.
21 thoughts on ““Small Biz Loving” Obama Meets with Labor, CEOs Instead”
This isn’t surprising or unexpected; he doesn’t have to pretend to give a whit about the ‘little people’ or their problems. He won.
This is the truth. I expect four years of complaining about republicans unwilling to cooperate while quietly signing executive orders to do things he can’t strong arm Congress to take the blame for, many rounds of golf, and a worldwide victory tour-slash-fiesta for the entire extended family and friends. Oh, and White House parties. Lots and lots of lavish, celebrity-attended parties that we get to pay for. Yay America.
Why isnt he meeting with all of Congress and Governors instead?
The CEOs/unions/Bono/etc have no control over Government spending or Government taxing powers.
There is nothing a CEO or Union Rep can do. We are spending $1.6 trillion more than we take in. Isn’t that the scary issue at the moment?
Obamas America. Sad.
Another dog and pony show! Looks like the Jobs Czar, Jeff Immelt, is being dragged out of the closet for a photo op in spite of the fact that he jumped ship eons ago after expressing his disapproval of Obama’s economic policies and shift to the Republican ticket.
Four years and nothing has changed. Obama is still an anti-business, union loving thug. The revered WH insider, Bob Woodward, delivered the knock-out punch to the community organizer in his latest book, The Price of Politics. Not only is Obama an economic illiterate, he doesn’t give a damn. When it comes to leadership – ‘nobody is home’! Should be Obama’s epitaph!
To the victor go the spoils. These government robber barons probably think they will be spared from the wrath of the bureaucracy and have a hand in divvying up the confiscated wealth. Enjoy the photo op tools, because that is about all you’re going to get from this demagogue.
As a small business person, I just am so glad that people are even thinking about me . . . NOT!!! BO is a just awful.
Additionally I heard on Varney and Co. (as reported by Politico) that unlike yesterday when the Revenge King presided over the meeting with his union and and leftist supporters like MoveOn.org, today Valerie Jarrett will “host” (????) this meeting. So now we have the Revenge King and Queen Moochelle and the Regent Valerie Jarrett, born in Iran and whose business experience includes success as an unscrupulous Chicago slumlord. Payback America. What an absolute mockery.
Meeting with the head of Walmart? You mean the company that’s shifting all it’s employees to part-time so they can avoid the Obamacare mandate?
Ha ha haa haaa …
GOOD JOB VOTERS!!
I’m sure they are using this opportunity to beg for their waiver.
Photo-op.
All those companies have made enough money! LOL.
Let these fools rearrange the Titanic deck chairs. Our economic collapse is inevitable now, its just a matter of when. My only job is to take care of me and mine and figure out some way to profit off the demise.
The “Titanic” metaphor doesn’t, uh, “hold water”. While the Titanic died of stupidity, at least the Captain had enough honor to admit his error and go down with the ship, after saving as many as possible from the results of his foolishness.
I think a closer similie is the “Costa Concordia”. HER Captain ignored his established route, veered into uncharted waters so he could impress his friends, struck a rock that was predictably somewhere where he never should have taken her, ran it aground in rocky shoals that tipped it so half the lifeboats could not be used, “fell” into one of the few available lifeboats (imagine that!), left the ship to founder without him and the passengers and crew to do whatever they could for themselves, hid as long as he could, then blamed everyone but himself when he was eventually caught, making himself out to be a hero instead of a goat.
He also had cocane on his hair. Not IN his hair, ON his hair. Who has that much cocaine, anyway? Do they have a Situation Room onboard? Were any of Obama’s buddies cruising?
The company that employed him, meanwhile, was so tone-deaf that they offered discount cruses to the stricken passengers.
THAT sounds MUCH more like the current administration than “Titanic” does, don’t you think?
My daughter works for a company that would probably be considered on the low end middle size employer. Their executives participated on talks with the administration months ago. They told staff they left with the impression that the administration was not interested in their opinions. They felt like Betnanke did but otherwise basically a waste. There is nothing new with the president. He really thinks he walks on water.
Like a bunch of pesky flies buzzing around his head, nothing but noise. He has no clue when it comes to business (or much of anything else for that matter.)
Yep, Ursula Burns, the Xerox CEO (the laughing stock of the company) gave $3K to Obama. And today she announced lay offs of 2500 people. She is affirmative action run amok and single handedly has destroyed this venerated company. This is the kind of people Obama surrounds himself with. They also have eliminated ALL medical care for their retirees leaving thousands in the lurch. These hard-working people gave their lives for Xerox and Burns allows the company to turn its back on them while she makes millions sitting doing nothing but destroying lives. She fits the bill as one of Obama’s right hand “men”.
Will this be the same type of council like BHO’s prior ” jobs council ” that he hasn’t meet with for the last 4/6 months?
Just another propaganda photo op from Dear Leader for his worshippers.
He is laying the groundwork for lucrative Board memberships when he leaves office.
He wants the board memberships for Mooch ~ he & TOTUS will take the speeches where he’ll make a lot more money.
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