South By North Strategies, Ltd.

Free Exchange compares the “pro-business” perceptions of the Bush and Obama administrations.

For all the similarity of substance, perceptions of the two are diametrically opposed. Business may have hated many of Mr Bush’s policies but seldom questioned his business bona fides, whereas they’ve never really given Mr Obama the benefit of the doubt. There are reasons of substance for this, on upper-income taxes and unions, for example. But style is the far more important reason. Business people want to be liked (who doesn’t?). Mr Bush liked the company of business people, picked one as his vice president and stacked his cabinet with them. He clearly thought business people were more competent than government employees, thus his fondness for outsourcing everything, from wars to Medicare, even when it cost more. Mr Obama has no CEOs in his cabinet, and seems to prefer the company of unions, academics and activists. Yes, his speeches regularly pay homage to private enterprise and free markets. But what business people remember are the repeated slaps at fat cats, millionaires, and the many sins of big business from abusing borrowers to outsourcing jobs.
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I’ve seldom thought that the solution to any president’s problem lay in how he talked rather than what he did. Mr Obama’s low standing in the business community may be an exception.