Sununu rips Obama's crony capitalism and Chicago-style sleaze in conference call

Sununu

Once again, President Obama betrayed his true feelings about America, this time at a campaign stop last week in Roanoke, Virginia. "If you've got a business," he said, "you didn't build that, somebody else made that happen." Obama, who worships at the altar of big government, believes that government is responsible for prosperity. Odd thing, however, it is business and those people who work in the private sector who pay the taxes that feed Obama's sacred public sector.

This morning the Mitt Romney campaign held a conference call with former New Hampshire governor John Sununu and four business operators.

Sununu, who also served as chief of staff under the first President Bush, said of Obama's comment, "What's really scary about that is that I think he clearly believes it and he clearly has been practicing it." And he asserted that the White House is on board with this dysfunctional philosophy. "They really think that government is there to pick who should succeed and who should fail. And of course they like to see their friends succeed more than anyone else. And they have been practicing this crony capitalism of giving major, major grants of taxpayer money to people who are investors in businesses--but people who are also bundlers and contributors to the Obama campaign, or people who are related to people who have worked for the president or the vice president or are good friends of the Chicago crowd that is in the White House."

Chicago's Northwest Side

Sadly, because I live in the Chicago area, I can tell you that this is how Illinois is run. Illinois' crony capitalism culture is based on how much money you give to (usually) Democratic candidates or, for instance, whose sister you are married to--or a combination of both. And what do we get in return? Rampant corruption, high unemployment, and anemic population growth. Which is why former Illinois General Assembly member Roger Keats moved to Texas, but not before declaring, "I am sick and tired of subsidizing crooks."

But Illinois expatriates such as Keats are still doing that--only now they are paying for these sins at the federal level.

I am being pummelled twice, of course.

Sununu brought up Obama crony capitalism flops such as Solyndra, BrightSource, and Fisker. That last one has created a lot of jobs--in Finland.

The former governor returned to where Obama began his political career, which he called, "[t]hat murky political world in Chicago where politician and felon has become synonymous." And he hammered Obama on the still not-completely-explained real estate deal with now-imprisoned Tony Rezko, which Sununu called "smarmy," It allowed the Obamas to buy their South Side mansion--that I suspect they would not have otherwise been able to afford.

Obama mansion in 2008

Changing the subject, Sununu asserted, "This country needs jobs," adding, "It is not going to get jobs when someone as unqualified as the president is in charge of the recovery."

He returned to Obama's besmirchment of America's business owners, calling those comments "insulting to the hard-working entrepreneurs who really do create jobs." He lauded them by stating that these people of commerce are the "the backbone of our economy."

After Sununu concluded, the four business operators spoke about how they built their firms--by taking out second mortgages, forgoing both vacations and the buying of new cars, and in one case, paying workers' salaries from a credit card. The theme of their stories was "sacrifice."

"When I started the business it was never a community organizer who helped me--or anyone else," one of them said.

Related posts:

Obama's "sweetheart" mortgage: Was the competing lender Broadway Bank?

Rezko will send his regrets: Obama to hold birthday fundraiser at his Chicago mansion

No place for decent people: More Illinois corruption stories

June 27, 2003: Tony Rezko hosts an Obama fund-raiser at his mansion

Technorati tags: Illinois Democrats Obama politics Barack Obama Chicago Tony Rezko corruption legalcronyism Rezkograft gop Mitt Romney Republican sununu