GE In The Tank for Obama's Agenda

In spending the first two years of his presidency bashing big business, President Obama made it clear that chief executives were anathema. As a result of his open hostility, he earned many enemies in the boardrooms of corporate America.

However, with the presidential election now two years away, the President has done an about two-face. He wants us to believe he has shed his anti-business suit and cloaked himself in American free enterprise. Of course, no one would dare suggest that perhaps the President is motivated by the need to raise an estimated $900 million for his re-election campaign.

In his latest show of corporate love, the President named General Electric CEO Jeffrey Immelt to head up the new Council on Jobs and Competitiveness. As expected, the lap-dog news media hailed the announcement as another sign of the President's pro-business agenda.

However, the media failed to report what's behind the selection of Immelt.

For starters, General Electric was one of the top donors to President Obama's election campaign in 2008. In addition, Immelt dug into his own silk-lined pockets and made generous donations from his personal funds. As a result, Immelt is one of the few executives who has Obama's elephantine ears.

In the months since Obama's election, Immelt has been the president's constant cheerleader, even supporting the toxic cap-and-trade scheme most businesses opposed. While many corporate leaders and their industries have been bludgeoned by the President's rhetoric, General Electric has honeymooned its way to an enviable position.

It also hasn't hurt that GE has used its ownership of NBC and MSNBC to slather on praise for the President. Those two networks can always be counted on to find the silver lining in the President's every dark cloud. Now that GE has relinquished control of the media division to Comcast, it will be interesting to watch if the fawning coverage continues.

Make no mistake about it, GE has benefited from its media position as well as its corporate largess.

General Electric Energy-Industrial Solutions is busy developing electric vehicle charging stations. Much of the initial testing was done on the Chevrolet Volt, which just happens to be a General Motors product. At the time this research and development was underway, the Obama Government was majority owner of GM.

After GM began full production of Volt, guess which company announced it would purchase up to 10,000 of the new electric cars? That would be General Electric. As a result of GE's commitment, the Volt is almost guaranteed to meet its sales goals which will allow the President to claim success for the government bailout of GM.

As more electric cars are purchased, GE builds more charging stations. It is a classic case of quid-pro-quid political-business behavior.

But that's only the tip of the corporate iceberg. GE is one of the world's largest manufacturers of clean energy and related technologies that have been extolled by the president. The firm makes everything from large wind turbines to solar panels. Let's not forget GE also plays a huge role in health care and defense.

And it doesn't stop there. Hardly any journalistic eyebrows were raised by the fact General Electric received $80 billion in TARP funds during the financial crisis. The mega billion dollar firm was granted the loans by taking advantage of its ownership of two tiny banks in Utah.

No one in the media has had the temerity to connect all the dots. The Amen Chorus in print and broadcast is sticking to its song sheet, which has no sour notes when it comes to President Obama.

Instead, a vigilant media should be waving the red flag, warning of potential conflicts of interest. GE's current and future profits are closely intertwined with the policies of the Obama Administration. Small wonder that President Obama and Jeffrey Immelt have practically worn out their hands scratching each other's back.