Some Defend-President-Obama-no-matter-what-folks here will do anything to divert,

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102. So what if they do?

It almost sounds like you have a chip on your shoulder for DUers who argue in support of the president. I thought we were here to discuss and debate ideas about politics and society. Maybe you're right. Maybe we should dissect each others perceived personality flaws instead.

President Obama has never been anything but a conventional politician with a conventional outlook on business. He is the middle of the road and a bit toward the right. That's all he's ever been. As a conventional politician, he believes that one of the functions of government is to create policy that supports business. As a Democratic politician in the conventional style, he believes also that the government should create appropriate rules and regulations for business that facilitate the smooth functioning of markets, and in some cases, even rules and regulations that protect public health and safety and the environment, and that prevent discrimination.

This is not an earth-shattering revelation. Obama's outlook on business is not essentially any different from any Democratic president of the last 50 years. I don't know why anyone would have expected anything different. He never really presented himself in any other way, either as a US senator, or as a presidential candidate. His ethics and outlook on business were right out in the open, in his words and in his record, for anyone to see. As a senator from Illinois, he supported tax subsidies for businesses that produced ethanol from corn.

I've always understood where Obama stands. His ethics and mine are worlds apart in many areas. I don't expect Obama to share my radical notions of abolishing private ownership of land, revoking most commercial, corporate charters, reducing the size of military by around 90%, and enforcing environmental protection with lengthy prison sentences.

Obama believes in public policy that supports business. What do you believe?