In today's Playbook, Mike Allen notes that Obama is meeting with a large group of business leaders in a "CEO summit":
President Obama holds CEO summit at Blair House, 9-2 - Morning Money reports that the format includes "five or so main discussions, each led by one or more of the 20 executives expected to attend.
Ironically enough, this comes as another group of business leaders complains to The New York Times about Obama's occasional willingness to hurt their feelings:
Nearly halfway through Mr. Obama’s term, the dearth of business and Wall Street types in his administration rankles many executives, if only as a proxy for their unhappiness with his policies and occasional antibusiness political speech.
This is getting ridiculous. Obama might not be as personally pro-business as George W. Bush or Bill Clinton, but he rescued the financial industry from total collapse, General Motors from oblivion, and gave millions of new customers to health insurers and pharmaceuticals. Wall Street nearly destroyed the global economy, and Obama refrained from nationalizing the banks and selling off their assets. Corporate profits have been growing like gangbusters, but business leaders are still mad that they aren't well-represented in the administration? Really? If they could hear themselves, they'd know that they sound less like Galtian lords of capitalism and more like spoiled children, angry that they can't have that fourth scoop of gold-flaked ice cream.
-- Jamelle Bouie
