Konrad Yakabuski: Obama’s 'We' Philosophy Collides with Capitalism’s 'Me'
[Konrad Yakabuski is The Globe and Mail's chief U.S. political writer, based in Washington. He covers all aspects of the American political scene, including relevant social and cultural issues.]
...This is state capitalism, Obama-style. His is a vision of a virtuous clean-energy economy nurtured by government. It is benevolent, ordered and seemingly devoid of egos, obvious wealth or crude self-interest.
It is also largely at odds with the prevailing concept of American capitalism as a messy, chaotic and utterly selfish pursuit of happiness that rewards risk-takers and equates the national dream with getting rich....
Mr. Obama is not the first president to mop up after the destructive excesses to which unfettered capitalism has occasionally exposed the country. But not since Franklin Roosevelt have circumstances and personal convictions put any president on such antagonistic terms with the American business establishment....
It hardly went unnoticed, nor did Mr. Obama apparently want it to, that his bedtime reading as President-elect in 2008 consisted of a book on FDR’s first 100 days in the Oval Office. (Mr. Obama was so impressed, he granted the author, Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter, privileged access to the West Wing to chronicle the first year of his presidency for his new book, The Promise.)
For McGill University political historian Gil Troy, Mr. Obama’s attacks on business put him well within a presidential tradition that goes back at least as far as Andrew Jackson in the 1830s. But they also betray his particular world view and a career spent entirely outside the private sector.
“Not only does Barack Obama lack corporate experience, but his defining experiences were as a community organizer, public interest lawyer and law lecturer,” Prof. Troy said in an interview. “That puts him ideologically, structurally and professionally in opposition to business.”
Mr. Obama, Mr. Troy continued, is “trying to convince Americans of the efficacy of government. He’s enough of a [Ronald] Reagan baby to know that is not necessarily the easiest sell to make. So, if [the economic crisis] is not a God-given opportunity, it’s at least a Goldman Sachs-given opportunity to make that sell.”...
Read entire article at Globe and Mail
...This is state capitalism, Obama-style. His is a vision of a virtuous clean-energy economy nurtured by government. It is benevolent, ordered and seemingly devoid of egos, obvious wealth or crude self-interest.
It is also largely at odds with the prevailing concept of American capitalism as a messy, chaotic and utterly selfish pursuit of happiness that rewards risk-takers and equates the national dream with getting rich....
Mr. Obama is not the first president to mop up after the destructive excesses to which unfettered capitalism has occasionally exposed the country. But not since Franklin Roosevelt have circumstances and personal convictions put any president on such antagonistic terms with the American business establishment....
It hardly went unnoticed, nor did Mr. Obama apparently want it to, that his bedtime reading as President-elect in 2008 consisted of a book on FDR’s first 100 days in the Oval Office. (Mr. Obama was so impressed, he granted the author, Newsweek’s Jonathan Alter, privileged access to the West Wing to chronicle the first year of his presidency for his new book, The Promise.)
For McGill University political historian Gil Troy, Mr. Obama’s attacks on business put him well within a presidential tradition that goes back at least as far as Andrew Jackson in the 1830s. But they also betray his particular world view and a career spent entirely outside the private sector.
“Not only does Barack Obama lack corporate experience, but his defining experiences were as a community organizer, public interest lawyer and law lecturer,” Prof. Troy said in an interview. “That puts him ideologically, structurally and professionally in opposition to business.”
Mr. Obama, Mr. Troy continued, is “trying to convince Americans of the efficacy of government. He’s enough of a [Ronald] Reagan baby to know that is not necessarily the easiest sell to make. So, if [the economic crisis] is not a God-given opportunity, it’s at least a Goldman Sachs-given opportunity to make that sell.”...