A Reality Check For the White House

By Bill Hammond, President/CEO - Texas Association of Business

For those following the Obama Administration’s downward trajectory in the polls since Inauguration, it is astounding how quickly the dynamics that helped elect President Barack Obama have been so overexposed that he is struggling to maintain traction on his important legislative priorities.

How did this happen? The Obama Administration inherited the worst economic crisis in generations.  It seems as though Obama misconstrued goodwill remaining from the campaign as a broad mandate to pursue a liberal agenda that will drive us further into economic peril. Since January, the White House embarked on a series of anti-business measures with enormous price tags. Trillions of dollars are at stake, and with each passing day – Americans are less eager to support the President’s agenda.

The tenor of the political discourse in America has become increasingly contentious. I’m one of those angry at how our fiscal issues are being managed. But more than anything, people are worried that their government will fail them. Americans are worried that they will have to cough up more money to the government for less and less.

The most repeated concern from Texas Association of Business members is that the Administration’s agenda will massively increase the size of government thereby sinking our nation further into crippling debt. These voices are not those of the executives of monolithic, multi-national corporations. They are families who have for generations owned super markets, companies that produce drilling materials, and businesses that make agricultural feed.  Businesses like these are the fabric of our state’s economy, and they provide the jobs that are helping people make it during these tough times. The Administration’s priorities put all employers in the crosshairs.

If you are an employer, will the punitive measures health care over-hauls impose force you to terminate employees? Will you have to wait for months to receive cancer treatment as you do in countries with similar government-run programs? If a radical climate change bill passes, will your electric bill skyrocket? If unions are able to leverage the “Employee Free Choice Act”, will bloated benefits packages bring down successful companies as they did with GM? Should we be forced to pay for a bigger government we do not want?

Here are a few headlines that demonstrate how much we will be paying: Washington Post – White House Projects Budget Deficit to Soar to Nearly $1.6 Trillion; New York Times – US raises estimate for 10-year deficit to nearly $9 trillion; Bloomberg – Obama Raises ‘10 deficit outlook 19%.

It is embarrassing that some criticisms lodged against Obama deal with his birth certificate or whether it is appropriate for the President of the United States to encourage students to study hard when, in fact, there are so many legitimate issues on which this President must be held accountable.

The recent mortgage crisis saw the perfect storm of consumers wanting instant gratification and a banking system that was content to ignore potential consequences for the risk of cashing in now.  President Obama’s urgency to placate his liberal base is now causing a backlash among the independent voters who were essential to his election.

If the Administration pursues these reckless policies to accomplish now what we will have to pay for later – much like the housing crisis -- those who own our debt may foreclose on our country.  

Bill Hammond is President and CEO of the Texas Association of Business, a broad-based, bipartisan organization representing more than 3,000 small and large businesses and 200 local chambers of commerce.