The Hill: CEOs find new friend in Obama

[seafan]

Behold the rejoicing amidst the new partnership.



CEOs find new friend in Obama

By Ian Swanson - 12/09/10 06:00 AM ET

Corporate chief executives who have been disappointed in the Obama administration are suddenly singing a different tune.

Ivan Seidenberg, the Verizon CEO who just months ago criticized President Obama’s policies as a threat to business, on Wednesday said Obama “has shown a willingness to learn.”
“The things that occurred in the past of couple days are extraordinary,” Seidenberg, chairman of the Business Roundtable, told a Washington news conference on Wednesday.

Seidenberg was remarking on the White House’s embrace of a huge tax package and progress on a trade deal with South Korea that had been stalled for years. Both measures give business a chance to increase profits through lower taxes and crumbling trade barriers.

.....

The nation’s largest business lobby said it will do everything it can to help the White House win approval for the tax package. The Chamber is also starting to talk about how it can help Obama sell the U.S.-South Korean trade deal to Congress.

Collamore said the idea of the Chamber co-writing a joint op-ed with an administration official highlighting the merits of the trade deal was floated on Wednesday morning.

After two years of playing defense, business is now on the same side as Obama in two huge economic debates.

And there could be more to come. One business official said immigration, education reform and infrastructure spending, to name just three topics, are all areas where Obama and business will have reason to cooperate.

The tax and trade deals seem to have opened a new chapter in Washington for business and the White House.

.....

By the way, that South Korean trade deal pushed by Obama, insisted that the Koreans weaken their auto safety and emissions standards to the level of the US, so more American cars could be exported to Korea. Instead of improving our standards, our government insists that the South Koreans weaken theirs.


Just horrifyingly lovely.

[John Q. Citizen]

1. They are selling out the people for the wealth of a few.

[Jackpine Radical]

2. Obama's old friends have been picking on him

so he's gone off and found a new set of friends. Maybe they'll all vote him Most Popular New Kid in 2012.