April 20, 2008
Dems 2008: Capitalism has been “bery, bery good” to Clinton and Obama? [Karl]

Invoking the ghost of Chico Esquela, TownHall’s Austin Hill spots some more elitism in the Democratic presidential hopefuls:

The profile and name recognition that led both Obama and Clinton to lucrative publishing deals and enormous book sales have been brought about by the roles they occupy in our government. Arguably, their marketability at the bookstore has to some extent been subsidized by the federal government. Yet Clinton and Obama are first in line to question the legitimacy and “morality” of purely private sector enterprise, and can’t wait to punish those who are successful with it.

Hill notes Bill Clinton’s lucrative post-presidency, to which he could have added the pure coincidence that Michelle Obama’s income skyrocketed around the time Barack Obama became a US Senator.

Some might call it hypocrisy, but Hill is correct to call it elitism instead.  Most Americans cannot avail themselves of crony capitalism as the Clintons and Obamas have.  Moreover, their success in crony capitalism is probably one reason the Clintons and Obamas question the legitimacy and “morality” of purely private sector enterprise.

19 Comments  :::   Post a comment »

  1. Comment by B Moe on 4/20 @ 4:29 pm #

    Some might call it hypocrisy, but Hill is correct to call it elitism instead. … their success in crony capitalism is probably one reason the Clintons and Obamas question the legitimacy and “morality” of purely private sector enterprise.

    So it may also be considered a symptom of their acute narcissism.

  2. Comment by happyfeet on 4/20 @ 4:54 pm #

    Even so, the stock purchases raise questions about how he could unwittingly come to invest in two relatively obscure companies, whose backers happen to include generous contributors to his political committees…

    Within two weeks of his purchase of the biotech stock that Feb 22, Mr. Obama initiated what he has called “one of my top priorities since arriving in the Senate,” a push to increase federal financing to fight avian flu…

    His first step came on March 4, 2005, when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved his request for $25 million to help contain the disease in Asia; the full Senate later approved that measure. And in April 2005, he introduced a bill calling for more research on avian flu drugs and urging the government to increase its stockpiles of antiviral medicines…

    Meanwhile, the drug company in which he invested, AVI BioPharma, had been working to develop its own medicine to treat avian flu victims. In a conference call with Wall Street analysts on March 8, 2005, the company’s chairman, Denis R. Burger, said the firm was “aggressively going forward” with its avian flu research and hoped to work with federal agencies on it.

    He dodged a bullet there. Now they stay away from stocks a lot it looks like. Hey! Know what we should do? Raise the capital gains tax! Won’t hurt Baracky and M’chelle none, so that’s a strong argument for it I think.

  3. Comment by happyfeet on 4/20 @ 4:55 pm #

    Even so, the stock purchases raise questions about how he could unwittingly come to invest in two relatively obscure companies, whose backers happen to include generous contributors to his political committees…

    Within two weeks of his purchase of the biotech stock that Feb 22, Mr. Obama initiated what he has called “one of my top priorities since arriving in the Senate,” a push to increase federal financing to fight avian flu…

    His first step came on March 4, 2005, when the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved his request for $25 million to help contain the disease in Asia; the full Senate later approved that measure. And in April 2005, he introduced a bill calling for more research on avian flu drugs and urging the government to increase its stockpiles of antiviral medicines…

    Meanwhile, the drug company in which he invested, AVI BioPharma, had been working to develop its own medicine to treat avian flu victims. In a conference call with Wall Street analysts on March 8, 2005, the company’s chairman, Denis R. Burger, said the firm was “aggressively going forward” with its avian flu research and hoped to work with federal agencies on it.

    He dodged a bullet there. Now they stay away from stocks a lot it looks like. Hey! Know what we should do? Raise the capital gains tax! Won’t hurt Baracky and M’chelle none, so that’s a strong argument for it I think.

    http://www.nytimes*.com/2007/03/07/us/politics/07obama.html?pagewanted=print

  4. Comment by Dan Collins on 4/20 @ 4:59 pm #

    The Obama campaign is planning to expand its research and rapid-response team in order to repel attacks it anticipates over his ties to 1960s radical Bill Ayers, indicted developer Antoin Rezko and other figures from his past. David Axelrod, Obama’s chief strategist, tells NEWSWEEK that the Illinois senator won’t let himself be “Swift Boated” like John Kerry in 2004.

    I think the verb he was searching for was “TANGed”.

  5. Comment by Ardsgaine on 4/20 @ 5:22 pm #

    It would be more exact to call it crony socialism. When it was done back in the late 1800s, there might have been some excuse for thinking of it as a variant of capitalism, but not today.

    Or how about Democratic Fascism?

  6. Comment by happyfeet on 4/20 @ 5:55 pm #

    Oh. Mr. Reynolds has this, which is a lot related. I agree a lot with this part…

    Finally, Congress should take a look at the salaries of officeholders who run for higher office. Nothing gets my goat more than public officeholders who spend more time campaigning for a better position than doing what they were originally elected for. Wanna be president? Fine. But you should be made to either wait until your current Senate or House term expires or be forced to resign your post. Why should the taxpayers foot the bill for these yahoos who, rather than doing the work of the American people, are looking for more prestige and power for themselves? One of my senators was among the not-so-lucky contenders for the presidential nomination. He missed nearly 40 percent of the votes that occurred during his time on the campaign trail — and when he threw in the towel, headed back to his nice office in Washington and (I’m sure) will run for Senate again when his term is up. How many of you have bosses who would pay you to skip work to look for a better position elsewhere?

    It’s such an obvious conflict of interest when a Baracky or a McCain has to pivot while in office to pander to a national constituency instead of the people who elected them. It’s a lot bad manners and also basically shows a lack of integrity I think.

  7. Comment by Scrapiron on 4/20 @ 6:07 pm #

    It’s been a very rough 7 years. Just ask Hussein who made over $4 mil last year and the Klington who made over $100 mil in seven years. Yep, the economy has been in the tank. Actually is has been falling since Jan 2007 when the dhimmi’s took control of the Senate.

  8. Comment by Merovign on 4/20 @ 9:37 pm #

    “A thief believes that everybody steals.”

    Or, someone who makes money through graft, manipulation, back-room dealings, bribery, and rent-seeking will assume everyone else who has money did the same.

    Or, never trust a rich leftist.

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