A billionaire financier is a fundraiser and advisor to powerful politicians, and a New York Times writer declares his policy advocacy “refreshing.” You might think that’s odd, until you realize that the billionaire’s politics are left of center, and that the highest-profile politcian for whom he is raising funds is President Barack Obama.
I’m talking, of course, about Warren Buffett.
When the liberal mainstream media praises Buffett’s public lobbying, as the Times’ Sorkin does in the above-referenced piece, they never frame it as “isn’t it great that Buffett agrees with us!” They always phrase it as if Buffett’s lobbying is (1) rare, and (2) against his own self-interest.
For instance, Sorkin writes:
And later he writes:
There are two angles to this: Primarily, Sorkin is focusing on a sort of extension of that gentile dinner-party rule that apparently other people’s families followed — don’t discuss religion or politics in company. Should Buffett avoid dragging his politics into business.
But secondarily, I think Sorkin is suggesting that Buffett is brave to be a pro-tax-hike liberal among his “peers,” which I understand to be CEOs, billionaires, and finance types.
I don’t know the political breakdown of all billionaires, but I know that if you look at Buffett’s peers on the Forbes Top 10, you find an even split of tax-hikers and tax-cutters. Bill Gates has lobbied for tax hikes on the rich, and Larry Ellison these days donates only to Democrats. George Soros is in that Top 10, too.
And CEOs? Obama has plenty on his team: Buffett, Jeff Immelt of GE, Jim McNerney of Boeing, Jim Rogers of Duke, Robert Wolf of UBS, just off the top of my head.
And finance types? From 2005 through 2009, the securities and investment industry gave more money to Democrats, turning the Republicans in 2010 and 2011.
Sorkin peppers his blog post with plenty of “to-be-sure” clauses, acknowledging some of the concepts I’m arguing here. Investor Mario Gabelli said of Buffett’s politics “I’m O.K. with it.” Sorkin acknowledged, “(It must be said that much of the audience at the packed arena in Omaha cheered at Mr. Buffett’s political comments.)”
The pattern in the piece is this: Sorkin saw a bunch of investors applauding Buffett’s politics, but knows that Buffett’s politics upset a lot of other investors, even if he could only find one of them to quote.
And if you think Buffett’s left-leaning politics are not self-interested, check my blog posts on that in the past, or Peter Schweizer’s writing on it at Reason or Matt Welch of Reason writing on it at CNN.
