The Business Sector and Obama

I read this and thought, very well balanced and thought-out aricle. I think that there is a generalization out that that the Business Sector, to a person, is hostile towards this administration. I don't think that's the case. That is not to say that I agree with everything Obama has done -- anyone who has read this blog's postings about healthcare, in particular, will recognize that. Same thing with the deficit and the bailouts. That being said, the administration did not inherit the greatest of circumstances.

Obama: What Business Thinks - BusinessWeek

excerpts:

In the hour-long conversation that resulted, the corporate executives gave
Obama's economic policymakers an earful. On the campaign trail, the President
had used populist language to demand an end to what he called loopholes that
encourage companies to ship jobs overseas. The executives feared that meant he wanted to eliminate deferral altogether. One by one, the bosses warned that the Administration's move would gravely damage U.S. companies' ability to compete overseas. "It was a broad-based reaction that said, 'Look, we understand there's a problem and a need for revenue,' " Cote says. " 'The thing we don't want you to do is put us at such a disadvantage to our worldwide competitors that we just can't get
anywhere.' "

Message received. By the time the Administration released a
more detailed proposal in May, it had ratcheted back to a more limited position
on deferral, combined with an end to other more questionable international tax
breaks. Pressured as well by congressional opposition—much of it spurred by
intense corporate lobbying—the White House team soon moved the plan to the back
burner. Administration sources now say the measure will likely return only as
part of a comprehensive overhaul of corporate taxes, as the executives sought.
"We expressed substantial concerns, and they were very responsive," says another
CEO who was on the call.

The truce reached on tax deferral has helped defuse some of the tensions between the Obama Administration and business, but not all. Case by case, the President and his team impress CEOs with their accessibility,
knowledge, and willingness to listen. Many corporate chiefs, though, remain
unsure of what to make of Obama, and many can't tell how well he understands the
challenges they face. That wariness has only been accentuated by the
antibusiness tone many felt the new President and his advisers took as they
moved to stem the financial crisis in the winter. "I think there's a fair amount
of trepidation in the business community," says Robert Greifeld, CEO of Nasdaq
OMX Group (NDAQ).

To Obama and his economic staff, such anxiety—and even hostility—are more
than a little baffling. Many of those "who think we're antibusiness seem to
forget that it was just three or four months ago, when, at great political
expense, we yanked them out of the fire," Obama told BusinessWeek in an interview on July 27. Later, he added: "My working assumption has always been, if the market could do it better, have the market do it." As Summers is quick to point out, much of the Administration's long-term program—reducing dependence on foreign oil, cutting the crippling growth in health-care costs,
and bolstering the skills of America's workforce—is designed to address
longstanding business complaints. "We are very mindful that you can't have
employees without employers," he says.