Obama Overtures To Business Fall Flat

Labeled antibusiness by Republicans and some corporate chiefs, President Barack Obama mounted a campaign to show he wasn't. But his charm offensive has hit a rocky patch.

Business leaders gripe about burdensome new financial and health care regulations, what they see as unfriendly tax policies and vast government spending. They were put off by Obama's harsh depiction of "fat cat bankers" and "reckless practices," a label he applied both to Wall Street and to oil-spill giant BP.

Reaching out to big business, Obama named more than a dozen top CEOs to a presidential Export Council, revived a Bush administration free-trade pact with South Korea and stumped aggressively for cutting taxes and increasing loans for small businesses. But it is noticeable that not a single former corporate executive is in his Cabinet or among his top economic advisers.

"The truth is that not even the Franklin Roosevelt administration was as hostile to and ignorant about free enterprise as this administration is," declared magazine publisher and one-time GOP presidential contender Steve Forbes.

While Obama says small businesses will "lead this recovery," the National Small Business Association recently issued a report saying that more small businesses are unable to get financing than at any time over the past 17 years. Unless they can get the loans they need "we will continue to see high unemployment," said NSBA President Todd McCracken.

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