Soros: Tea Party angered by pro-business Obama

Posted by Mitch Kokai at 07:14 AM

So it’s possible to label President Obama “pro-business” and still accuse him of taking steps that hurt consumers, entrepreneurs, and the economy as a whole.

Still, I’m not sure that’s what George Soros is trying to say in the last, somewhat puzzling sentence in this week Newsweek excerpt (which does not appear to have been posted online):

George Soros, the billionaire hedge-fund investor, says the magnitude of Obama’s shift has been exaggerated. “Actually Obama has been very pro-business, and I think business has been very anti-Obama,” said Soros, one of the few Davos regulars who thinks the president was too soft on the financial-services industry. Soros argues that Obama’s failure to crack down more has actually been to his political detriment. “He has awoken a very strong sentiment in the Tea Party because of his pro-business position,” Soros said.

Soros is undoubtedly correct — whether he realizes it or not — that Obama’s support for crony capitalism has “awoken a very strong sentiment” among some Tea Party supporters, though I suspect most of them have been motivated more by concerns about massive overspending, regulatory overreach, and ObamaCare.

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