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‘Get in the Game’: Obama Lectures Chamber of Commerce on ‘Mutual Responsibility’

Feb. 7, 2011 5:25pm Meredith Jessup

Working to reaffirm his commitment to creating jobs and to reassure Americans that his administration is a friend of the private sector, President Barack Obama addressed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Monday. But while taking time to address the group may seem like an olive branch offering from the Obama administration, the president’s remarks seemed to demonstrate a continuing divide between the president and the business community.

Throughout the course of his speech, the President stressed that businesses owe certain responsibilities to the nation. “I understand the challenges you face. I understand you are under incredible pressure to cut costs and keep your margins up. I understand the significance of your obligations to your shareholders and the pressures that are created by quarterly reports,” Obama said. “I get it.”

In return, Obama suggested the government’s responsibility is to “encourage American innovation.” The president also used his speech to garner support for his investment priorities, including infrastructure development and education reform.

At times, he was more direct in demanding businesses take on a more charitable role, suggesting that corporate profits “be shared by American workers”:

Of course, your responsibility goes beyond recognizing the need for certain standards and safeguards. If we’re fighting to reform the tax code and increase exports to help you compete, the benefits can’t just translate into greater profits and bonuses for those at the top. They should be shared by American workers, who need to know that expanding trade and opening markets will lift their standard of living as well as your bottom line.

We cannot go back to the kind of economy – and culture – we saw in the years leading up to the recession, where growth and gains in productivity just didn’t translate into rising incomes and opportunity for the middle class.

While he continues to try and move toward the ideological center in the run up to his 2012 reelection bid, his liberal base may not be as supportive as he hopes.

“Two weeks ago the President promised that he would work to rebuild people’s faith in government – meeting with the biggest lobbyists in the country is hardly a step in the right direction,” said Erica Payne, the founder The Agenda Project, a 501(c)4 that works with progressive organizations to coordinate messaging.

The group launched this online ad condemning Obama’s decision to even speak to the Chamber:

“Go talk to whoever you want to, but let’s not have a lot of illusions about who you’re going to talk to,” Payne added. “Obama went to meet with lobbyists for the biggest 45 corporations in the country, all of whom are opposed to very basic reforms, environmentalism, all of it.”

“Let’s just not lie about it,” she said.

In addition, several protesters gathered outside the Chamber building — joined by Ralph Nader — and accused Obama of turning his back on labor unions:

Will the president’s outreach to the business community win him favor with the American public? If the last two years are any indication, this meeting of the minds will likely be short-lived.

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Comments (353)

smalldog
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 7:12pm
Let me see if I understand Obama’s idea of sharing -

Business pays more for healthcare or fines (no telling how high the fines will go in the future), minimum wage, regulation, unemployment insurance…

Has to share more with workers…

Will workers ever see that money in their pockets?

In comes Washington to tax/steal/regulate that money away, some before it goes into the worker pocket, others as it leaves the worker pocket to pay for energy, foods, housing, living…

Business should ‘share’ more with workers so Washington can tax/steal/regulate away the money even faster than ever in history? That’s why we need a faster internet?

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mac5iron
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 7:12pm
The odds that Obama will embrace free market principles is akin to the odds that Ludwig Von Mises will rise from the grave and embrace Marxism.

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Right is right. Left is wrong.
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 7:03pm
He needs them now. That’s why he is playing nice now. Nothing else to it.

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ThomasUSA
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:58pm
It just pizza me off when this arrogant, deceptive, self-righteous, socialist, who has NO real world work experience or business experience says ” What can YOU do for ME”…. I think it is time we turn up the heat on our Republicans in the House and throw up whatever blocks it takes to stop this direction.. even a massive depression would be better than the direction we are headed…

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thestimulusmonkey
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:56pm
Hey – at least liberals and conservatives have one thing in common now. They are both fed up with him!

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- MrObvious
  Posted on February 8, 2011 at 8:34am
  Not really. The libs claim to be fed up; but, they are getting everything they want; so, it’s all just a show.
  
  Report this comment
beebacksoon
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:56pm
Obama wants to “reassure Americans that his administration is a friend of the private sector” OH, REALLY? “President Barack Obama addressed the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Monday. But while taking time to address the group may seem like an olive branch offering from the Obama administration, the president’s remarks seemed to demonstrate a continuing divide between the president and the business community.” AND THE DIVIDE WIDENS.
Throughout the course of his speech, “the President stressed that businesses owe certain responsibilities to the nation. “I understand the challenges you face. (YOU CAUSED THEM!)
In return, Obama suggested the government’s responsibility is to “encourage American innovation.” NO, IT IS NOT THE GOVT’S RESPONSIBILITY!. “The president also used his speech to garner support for his investment priorities, including infrastructure development and education reform. INFRASTRUCTURE SHOULD BE DOWN ON THE LIST OF JOB CREATORS. HOWEVER, WE DO NEED EDUCATION REFORM…GET THE FEDS OUT OF EDUCATION AND LET THE STATE’S DECIDE CURRICULUM
“At times, he was more direct in demanding businesses take on a more charitable role, suggesting that corporate profits “be shared by American workers”: CORPORATE PROFITS ARE TO BE SHARED (OR NOT) BY THE COMPANY, NOT THE GOVT!
“If we’re fighting to reform the tax code..” YES, WE WANT A FAIR TAX, BUT YOU’LL HAVE NONE OF IT! “and increase exports to help you compete, the benefits can’t just translate into greater profits and bonuses for those at the top. They should be shared by American workers,” YES, THAT WOULD BE IDEAL, HOWEVER, IT STILL ISN’T YOUR BUSINESS, IS IT?
“We cannot go back to the kind of economy – and culture – we saw in the years leading up to the recession, where growth and gains in productivity just didn’t translate into rising incomes and opportunity for the middle class.” WE LONG FOR THOSE GOOD OL DAYS, OBAMA! ANYTHING IS BETTER THAN THIS!

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Randyrocker
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:50pm
Someone needs to lecture Obama on the crimes being committed by his Secretary of the Treasury’s former Goldman ands Sachs boys, including his White House advisor’s former JP Morgan and the skunk at the FED Ben Bernache. These Banksters have committed more economic havoc and criminal activities than all of the gangsters that ever robbed anyone in America throughout all of American history, and where are they all sitting now? Around the President’s table, laughing at the raping they’ve done of the economies of the world, the foreclosures they’ve created in America, the lives they’ve ruined and the deaths they have indirectly been responsible for.
And here’s Obama lecturing businesses on how to conduct themselves, when he’s never done a lick of work in his life. America wake up, you are being played big time by these abusers, who by the way never bothered to even pay their own taxes without it being demanded of them to do it.

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- beebacksoon
  Posted on February 7, 2011 at 7:06pm
  2012 can’t come fast enough. The ONLY way this man will be reelected is by massive voter fraud, so be prepared for all the dirty thug tricks up their sleeves.
  
  Report this comment
- encinom
  Posted on February 7, 2011 at 7:21pm
  @BEBACKSOON
  
  Actually, given his poll numbers, he is above where both Clinton and Reagan where at this point in their first term, that and given the fact that the only “strong” GOP candidate is 1/2 Term Palin with negative numbers greater than any positive polling, it would seem that for the GOP to win the White House they would nee Rove’s book of dirty tricks.
  
  Report this comment
Tx Spud Bar
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:48pm
hey berry, does deep-water drilling moratorium ring a bell.you outsourced it .gave Brazil 2 bil. for oil exploration? off its coast. Deteriorated infrastructure, lets see no new refineries,or nuclear power plants,no coal or natural gas.we can put 40 million people on food stamps,put 9.5% of America out of work and you have the nerve to say the CoC is out of line?Get a backbone cut some regulations and fire-up our oil based economy.to build new plants we need ,new roads ,trucks ,pipe,wood etc.but the most important commodity is PEOPLE.

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temple62
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:48pm
Mubarak needs to come to America and tell Obama and Hillary that he would expect either an apology for his narcissistic inference with Egypt politics or that Obama and Hillary need to resign!

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Channel3
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:43pm
We have to keep in mind that most people in government are there because they would not be able to survive in the private sector.

Barry Soetoro is one of those people.

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SnowballDidIt
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:41pm
Employees should share the rewards?? Are we sharing the risks? Do we share in paying the overhead? Should we get the janitor’s opinion everytime a decision needs to be made? There is a reason why I am not an employer. I don’t have the guts it takes to risk everything to start a business, nor the knowhow. Some people have that kind of courage, and everytime I receive a paycheck, I am glad that someone took that risk, and I hope that she remains profitable so that I can keep my job.

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- encinom
  Posted on February 7, 2011 at 7:18pm
  The problem is for corporations CEOs, CFOs, etc are not sharing in the risk, nor are the board members. If anything CEOs are rewarded for taking foolish risks with golden parachutes. Looking at the issue from the mom & pop store level is not addressing the concern. CEOs have insulated themselves from the risks while reaper ever bigger rewards.
  
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- Sinista Mace
  Posted on February 7, 2011 at 9:32pm
  It’s no different really from a Limited Liability Company at the mom and pop level.
  
  They protect their personal assets and are allowed to take huge risks with the capital of the business.
  
  They’re supposed to reinvest the money back into the business, but they can pay each other exhorbitant salaries and allow the business to fail, because their personal assets are insulated. When a mom and pop does this, their credit goes to crap. When CEOs do it, they’re personal credit is fairly insulated.
  
  Of course, it takes a certain amount of ruthlessness to do such a thing, considering that loan for a small business is usually federally insured, their livelihoods depend on the success of the enterprise, and therefor when they default, the entire country pays for the default and the bank wins overall. They’re less likely to default deliberately. Big corporate CEOS don’t face this same reality.
  
  Report this comment
encinom
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:41pm
Lets see, CEO’s have for the past decade been making more and more while the average worker’s salary remains flat, when adjusted for inflation. The income gap between the wealthy and middle class is the highest since before the great depression.

The funny thing is, the Tea-Party has sold its soul to the corporate interests and use the tea-baggers as its shock troops to protect the few at the top. Tea-Baggers are voting against their own interests to protect their masters, like BP, like big oil, like the ones willing to export every job overseas. Keep it up Tea-Baggers, but at the end of the day when you are out of work, it would be wrong to ask for unemployment insurance, or universal medical care.

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- flyguync
  Posted on February 7, 2011 at 7:56pm
  Okay, so who owns “big oil”? You make it sound like it’s one or two fat cats at the top that own the whole company. I believe publically-traded oil companies are “owned” by the shareholders, you know, my (and probably your) retirement fund.
  
  Report this comment
- encinom
  Posted on February 7, 2011 at 8:37pm
  Look at the majority share holders, its often banks and financial institutions, hedge funds, etc.
  
  Report this comment
- Sinista Mace
  Posted on February 7, 2011 at 9:24pm
  Looks like the liberal troll has revealed himself.
  
  Only a pure troglodyte calls us “teabaggers”.
  
  Meet me on Call of Duty Black Ops. I’ll show you a teabagging.
  
  Better yet, attempt to separate me from my real guns, my gold, my food, my water, my family, or my Xbox360.
  
  Report this comment
- komponist-ZAH
  Posted on February 7, 2011 at 9:57pm
  “Tea-Baggers are voting against their own interests”
  
  Yes, because totalitarianism is so much in our interests…
  
  To paraphrase Milton: Is it more just for a lesser number to compel the greater to surrender their liberty, or for the greater to compel the lesser to retain theirs?
  
  Report this comment
- encinom
  Posted on February 8, 2011 at 12:17am
  @Bigoted Mace
  
  Only good thing about a some back-water state giving you a gun, is that the poor genetic material from the gene pool usually flushes itself down the drain.
  
  Report this comment
gimmetheskinny
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:39pm
Mutual Responsability, don’t ya love it?

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IronSights
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:38pm
What’s sad is not only does he lack any practical experience running a business and operating on the return you create (oppose to spending others money like the government) his czars don’t have practical experience either. Let’s face it, if they did they would have stayed out of politics because they wouldn’t what to take a pay cut.

Obama speaking to the chamber about business is liken to havin a 5 year old explaining the operation of the internal combustion engine.

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cbrown
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:37pm
I heard the speech and it was a good one. What’s wrong with requesting American companies to not outsource all their jobs? Short term profits this sounds good but long term we all will suffer. It is govt imposing anything but requesting companies to do think about what they have have done lately for America.

Outsourcing not only costs us jobs but we loose our identity a bit day by day. Profit is important but sensible long term strategy is important too. American workers when given a chance they can prove that they are most productive workforce in the world.

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Semper4everSemper
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:32pm
1992 der Schlickmeister – “I feel your pain”
2011 Barryveryslick – “The mess you’re in is your fault and so you must feel my payin’”

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dcwu
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:31pm
Impeach Obama.

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- Sinista Mace
  Posted on February 7, 2011 at 9:19pm
  Impeach Obama!
  
  Report this comment
Sinista Mace
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:30pm
Impeach Obama.

Don’t let him sign any more of our rights away on his way out the door like Bush did with the FISA law.

Impeach his stupid a$$.

Why wait till 2012?

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- DashRipRock
  Posted on February 7, 2011 at 10:20pm
  172
  
  aaaaahahaahhahahaaa
  
  idiot
  
  Report this comment
mcpbob
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:29pm
you have to be a complete fool to believe anything this man Obama says…… he is one perpetual liar

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Channel3
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:27pm
Barry has never even had a real job or earned a paycheck.

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- MrObvious
  Posted on February 8, 2011 at 8:32am
  Didn’t VP Biden recently say that in some countries they are taxed so badly that the government actually takes money right out of peoples paychecks?
  
  I doubt any of the progressive yahoos in power get the meaning of “an honest day’s work”.
  
  Report this comment
Idaho Kirk
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:24pm
I am soooo sick of this “community organizer” that has never, NEVER run a business or been successful in ANY venture….. well w/ the exeption of duping the uninformed in this country into voting for a man with NO, NONE NADA track record of any kind.

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saxophonejack
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:23pm
Don’t you just love it when he says, “I get it”? He doesn’t even no what IT is?!!!!

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- DashRipRock
  Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:35pm
  He doesnt even know what is , is.
  
  They dont teach liberals what is,is.
  
  Report this comment
- MrObvious
  Posted on February 8, 2011 at 8:29am
  Progressives want to enslave our nation while proclaiming their opposition to slavery.
  
  Report this comment
Channel3
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:21pm
Barry actually spoke of “expanding markets”? What expanding markets? In China? In India? In Mexico?
The only expanding markets that I see in the U.S. are welfare, lawyers and want to be entertainers.

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happy2behere
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:21pm
When the workers in our family business take the risks, shoulder the debt, pay the bills and lie away at night wondering if we will make enough sales, THEN we will give them more of the profit.

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reckless
Posted on February 7, 2011 at 6:20pm
Dear Mr. President,
It is American innovation that is the economic driving force when Government stays out of the way. It is also American innovation that compells businesses to find a way to keep their hard earned money when the Government tries to take it from them.

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- studentofthetruth1976
  Posted on February 7, 2011 at 10:31pm
  Seconded.
  
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- MrObvious
  Posted on February 8, 2011 at 8:19am
  Just to add to that, charity begins at home, not in congress.
  When the government redistributes money it is legalized theft; and, HUD, Free Basketball courts, Welfare, Medicaid, and Obama Care are all examples of this.
  
  Most of our federal government’s thievery would be much more difficult for it to pull off without the 16th Amendment enabling it.
  
  Repealing the 16th Amendment needs to become a prominent part of the conservative and Tea Party platforms in 2012; so, it can happen in 2013.
  
  Report this comment

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