Obama's new Ad in Iowa, promising "scrupulous honesty" is dishonest.

[denem]

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2007/12/new_obama_ad_in_iowa.html

I have been impressed with Obama's campaign for weeks. They are way more professional under pressure than I expected. But this new ad lacks 'candour':

The narrator says : "On Wall Street, he got tough on CEOs". He did not. He gave a speech, laid out his economic agenda, and asked for their support. He rightly criticised the administration for tax loopholes, the influence lobbyists, and a lax DOJ. He sternly addressed corporate excesses.

The narrator explains "... he got tough on CEOs telling them to protect the middle class". He did not. He barely mentions the middle class. Obama eloquently reminded them that "the quick kill is prized without regard to long-term consequences ... just because it makes money doesn’t mean it’s good for business". Business, like government will fail if it's focus on next week or next year. What he said was:

I believe that America’s free market has been the engine of America’s great progress ... But I also know that in this country, our grand experiment has only worked because we have guided the market’s invisible hand with a higher principle.

It’s the idea that we are all in this together. From CEOs to shareholders, from financiers to factory workers, we all have a stake in each other’s success because the more Americans prosper, the more America prospers. That’s why we’ve had titans of industry who’ve made it their mission to pay well enough that their employees could afford the products they made. That’s why employees at companies like Google don’t mind the vast success of their CEOs – because they share in that success just the same. And that’s why our economy hasn’t just been the world’s greatest wealth creator – it’s been the world’s greatest job generator. It’s been the tide that has lifted the boats of the largest middle-class in history.

We have not come this far because we practice survival of the fittest. America is America because we believe in creating a framework in which all can succeed. Our free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it. And so from time to time, we have put in place certain rules of the road to make competition fair, and open, and honest. We have done this not to stifle prosperity or liberty, but to foster those things and ensure that they are shared and spread as widely as possible.

Obama also talks about a "new era of mutual responsibility", mostly blames the administration for the erosion of the middle class, and says we should look after the losers from globalisation. The only substantive financial policy announcements are tightening definitions of mortgage fraud, oversight of ratings agencies, and a public ratings system for mortgages and credit cards.

Asking for support is not getting tough on CEO's. Asking for a reassessment of self interest is not telling them to protect the middle class. Obama's campaign misspoke.

Full text of the speech is here (As someone who has worked in banking, I think it's impressive):
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post_group/ObamaHQ/CWc4

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