"Big Business transfers its loyalty, money to the Democrats" by Peter Canellos, Globe Staff | December 2, 2008
The crush of economic developments surrounding Barack Obama last week - from the promise of a large government stimulus package, to the possibility of a bailout for automakers, to the creation of a new presidential advisory panel of economists - may or may not turn the economy around. And with a credit crisis of vast proportions, the economy may be bad enough that it will be hard to judge the impact of all the government activity.
But the Obama administration's promise of swift government action to protect companies and workers is likely to achieve one result that has been unthinkable for 75 years: It will make the Democrats the party of Big Business. The two major political parties have been shifting their coalitions for a while now, as higher-income Americans move closer to the Democrats, despite the prospect of tax increases on high-wage earners.
Is that what you thought you were getting when you voted for "change," America?
The Iraq war, which unsettled global markets, and the conservative social agenda combined to alienate many Wall Street executives from the Republican Party even before the recent financial meltdown. In the recent presidential campaign, the financial sector, long the biggest backer of the Republicans, actually gave more money to the Democrats....
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The presence among the top-tier Democrats of Hillary Clinton, a New York senator who had cultivated a close relationship with Manhattan financiers, probably boosted Big Business contributions to her party beyond what they otherwise would have been.
And just who would they be?
"AMY GOODMAN: That was Hillary Clinton laughing. Fifteen seconds, Seymour Hersh. Your response?
SEYMOUR HERSH: Money. A lot of the Jewish money from New York. Come on, let's not kid about it. A significant percentage of Jewish money, and many leading American Jews support the Israeli position that Iran is an existential threat. And I think it’s as simple as that. When you’re from New York and from New York City, you take the view of -- right now, when you’re running a campaign, you follow that line. And there’s no other explanation for it, because she’s smart enough to know the downside. --source--"
Are we clear?
But if the financial sector split the difference between the two parties in 2008, it will probably skew toward the Democrats in succeeding elections, as Obama becomes the chief advocate of the Wall Street bailout....
And America did NOT WANT THAT kind of change!
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The Republican Party has fallen apart in the Northeast and upper Midwest, home to many of the largest financial-service companies and industrial manufacturers. Corporate executives seem to be among the many Northerners who have bailed on a party that is increasingly dominated by Southern evangelicals.
Tell me about it. Own fault! Ostracize me!
There are no signs that Republicans are going to try to win back Big Business anytime soon. Even though the recent $700 billion bailout package was orchestrated by a Republican president, the GOP, as the party in exile, will almost certainly coalesce around opposition to it.
Many Republican House members were queasy about the plan to begin with, and the fact that they ultimately supported it won't prevent them from disassociating themselves from it in the future, the way Democrats voted for President Bush's No Child Left Behind law and then campaigned against it as soon as they had a plausible excuse.
Moreover, an antibailout position would be pleasing to the growing numbers of populists in the Republican Party. With Obama to blame for corporate giveaways, the populist lion of the GOP is likely to start roaring at any moment.
He ALREADY DID!! You chose -- and are choosing again -- to ignore him! And we know why: doesn't support the war-makers and bankers agenda.
In fact, most of the party's 2012 presidential hopefuls - Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, and Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana - already conceive of themselves as heartland populists, eager to blame the coasts for the economic meltdown. Most of them are already warming up crowds with the type of anti-Wall Street rhetoric that used to be the bread and butter of Democrats....
No RON PAUL, 'eh? Yeah, they didn't even let him into the convention hall!
It's a reasonable guess that the more that Republicans become aligned with lower-income voters, the quicker they will lose their fondness for tax cuts and that the more that Democrats enjoy the support of upper-income voters, the more likely they will be to abandon plans to soak the rich with tax hikes.
Obama could end up resembling Ronald Reagan more than anyone could have imagined.
Here that shredding sound, America? There goes what remained of your safety net!
