President Obama being friendly with Big Business is so unusual, it seems, that it shocks journalists, pundits, and other experts, again and again, week after week.
As the latest installment in my “Strange Bedfellows” Watch, here’s Politico‘s Eamonn Javers:
The White House released a new batch of visitor log records Wednesday, disclosing an additional 1,615 visits to the executive mansion. Among those listed were a slew of to-be-expected types: Members of Congress, political appointees and Democratic bigwigs.
But the list also includes some more surprising names, including a slew of corporate chieftains and even a couple of high-ranking former Republican officials. [emphasis added]
Why in the world should it be surprising that Obama hosted corporate chieftans at the White House — especially when Javers goes on to name Wall Street and hedge fund Fat Cats? Obama, after all, raised more from the finance sector and from the hedge fund industry than any candidate in the history of America, according to figures from OpenSecrets.org. And the top House recipient of hedge fund money ever is Obama’s chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.
To be fair, the “corporate chieftain” on whom Javers spends the most words is hedge-fund king Stephen Schwarzman, who was a big John McCain donor. But Javers’ lead makes it sound like “corporate chieftains” and investment moguls are at odds with Obama. The only reason to believe this is if you buy Obama’s anti-special interest rhetoric and ignore his record.
Javers, having covered the business-government intersection for years, should — and probably does — know better. I’ll chalk up the “strange bedfellows” sentiment in his otherwise straightforwardly informative piece to the perfectly understandable need for a tidy lead after 6 pm on Thanksgiving Eve.
