An Interesting Perspective From Mort Zuckerman

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal posted an interview with Mort Zuckerman on the state of things in America. Mort Zuckerman is a successful businessman who is a Democrat. He is not thrilled with the leadership skills of President Obama.

The article quotes Mr. Zuckerman:

The Boston Properties CEO is trying to understand why Mr. Obama has made little effort to build relationships on Capitol Hill or negotiate a bipartisan economic plan. A longtime supporter of the Democratic Party, Mr. Zuckerman wrote in these pages two months ago that the entire business community was “pleading for some kind of adult supervision” in Washington and “desperate for strong leadership.” Writing soon after the historic downgrade of U.S. Treasury debt by Standard & Poor’s, he wrote, “I long for a triple-A president to run a triple-A country.”

When President Obama was elected, the Democrats controlled the House of Representatives, the Presidency, and had a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. The had free reign to do anything they wanted to do. President Obama said in a meeting with Republican leadership, “We won,” indicating that he was going to push through his ideas and was not open to compromise. I believe that is the problem. The basic attitude of the President is that he is going to do what he wants–with or without Congress. We have seen federal agencies used to enforce regulations Congress refused to pass. We have seen the results of ignoring the voters and simply passing edicts. It’s time for a change.

The article further states:

At that time he supported Mr. Obama’s call for heavy spending on infrastructure. “But if you look at the make-up of the stimulus program,” says Mr. Zuckerman, “roughly half of it went to state and local municipalities, which is in effect to the municipal unions which are at the core of the Democratic Party.” He adds that “the Republicans understood this” and it diminished the chances for bipartisan legislating.

Then there was health-care reform: “Eighty percent of the country wanted them to get costs under control, not to extend the coverage. They used all their political capital to extend the coverage. I always had the feeling the country looked at that bill and said, ‘Well, he may be doing it because he wants to be a transformational president, but I want to get my costs down!'”

Mr. Zuckerman recalls reports of Mr. Obama consulting various historians on the qualities of a transformational president. “But remember, transformations can go up and they can go down.”

Mr. Zuckerman concludes:

“Democracy does not work without the right leadership,” he says later, “and you can’t play politics.” The smile inspired by Reagan memories is gone now and Mr. Zuckerman is pounding his circular conference table. “The country has got to come to the conclusion at some point that what you’re doing is not just because of an ideology or politics but for the interests of the country.”

Well said.