Welch: Obama’s move to the center purely verbal
posted at 8:48 am on March 2, 2011 by Ed Morrissey
Via Greg Hengler, consider this seven minutes of awesome on both energy and economics. Former GE CEO Jack Welch blasts the Obama administration for lack of action on energy independence, scoffing at the notion that approving one drilling permit in the Gulf amounts to a compromise or positive momentum. While we’re dithering on using our natural resources, China is “absolutely positioning themselves” for long-term growth and the energy to drive it, with coal, nuclear, and alternative energy production. Welch says that, contra Obama’s scolding to the Chamber of Commerce, “the idea of a corporation hiring as a social responsibility is ridiculous,” and that hiring follows naturally from demand.
And Welch is just warming up. That leads him into his assessment of Barack Obama’s supposed “tack to the center,” which Welch dismisses as strictly rhetorical. Don’t miss what follows:
“That’s Card Check the back way,” Welch says of Obama’s decision to allow unionization of TSA. It was done through a Friday night news dump, Welch points out, and then never mentioned the move in his address to the Chamber, let alone provide a defense of it. “Show me the money,” Welch says after running down how Obama showed us the taxes.
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That’s rich.
promachus on March 2, 2011 at 8:50 AM
Jack tells it how it is.
OmahaConservative on March 2, 2011 at 8:52 AM
I love Jack Welch, but I could stangle him for stepping down and leaving GE to Immelt. Immelt is in knee-deep with this administration as a jobs czar of sorts which is a joke because he ran GE into the ground. To see Welch complain about this administration now is frustrating to say the least. I would be happy if Immelt left GE and GE then extracted itself from this loser administration. No such luck on that happening though.
KickandSwimMom on March 2, 2011 at 8:55 AM
Damn YouTube! Oh well, I’ll watch it when I get home.
Doughboy on March 2, 2011 at 8:56 AM
Welcome to the party
cmsinaz on March 2, 2011 at 8:56 AM
All nice and good Jack. But I will never forgive you for giving GE over to Immelt.
angryed on March 2, 2011 at 9:02 AM
I wonder how business guru / Obama cheerleader Tom Peters, who always admired Jack Welch, feels now about putting on his pom poms for the Won.
beatcanvas on March 2, 2011 at 9:04 AM
Beautiful. Just beautiful! :)
Indy82 on March 2, 2011 at 9:05 AM
For us rubes this is news, from 2008…
the_nile on March 2, 2011 at 9:09 AM
Welch never wanted Immelt as successor but choices at the time were limited. If he could do it again, he’d wait to leave until someone better became available.
Missy on March 2, 2011 at 9:11 AM
My husband has been with GE for 25 years, and it is his understanding from Welch’s books and knowledge of goings-on within the company that Welch actually groomed Immelt for his position. Immelt had previously been president of GE appliances and medical systems. There were 4 people vying for Welch’s spot: Kornicki (sp?) who became head of 3M, the guy who became head of Home Depot and 2 others I forget. Welsh had the final say, and it was like a coronation when he chose Immelt. No, Welch had plenty of choices to hand the reins over to. He just make a tremendous mistake is picking Immelt.
KickandSwimMom on March 2, 2011 at 9:25 AM
I’d like to ask Jack Welch if he regrets picking Jeff Immelt to succeed him at GE, and what he thinks of GE’s statist “business” model.
DaydreamBeliever on March 2, 2011 at 9:25 AM
Did Welch back him in 08?
artist on March 2, 2011 at 9:28 AM
Unionize Acorn Now!
Rovin on March 2, 2011 at 9:29 AM
My understanding from another longtime GE employee is that Welch thought Immelt was the best of a not ideal pool. There was one guy Welch really wanted but he didn’t think he was ready. So he reluctantly picked Immelt.
Once he settled on Immelt he did groom him, and it was a ridiculously big deal when the baton was passed – you are right about that.
Any way you slice it, it was a huge mistake, without a doubt.
Missy on March 2, 2011 at 9:34 AM
He’s all talk and no walk? This is unexpectedly unprecedented! /s
rukiddingme on March 2, 2011 at 9:38 AM
That idea is more brilliant than you might first realize!
Unionizing ACORN would eventually lead to its becoming totally ineffective as a Democrat vote-manufacturing outfit, as it slowly succumbs to the sclerotic bureaucracy and productivity-stifling work rules that come with the Union label.
Political jujitzu.
VelvetElvis on March 2, 2011 at 9:39 AM
I am beginning to relish the campaign.
Finally we can air our grievances with Obama to a wider audience and then we can vote.
We simply must find a way to present all his ideologically questionable advisers. Half the people around him have at one point in their lives been declared communists or socialists yet if you say that people still think you are nuts.
I hope someone will put money behind educating the public about what an absolute power hungry disaster Obama has been and reach into the addled brains of the people who don’t pay attention.
petunia on March 2, 2011 at 9:41 AM
I wonder if GE employees are still in shock from going from Welch to the current zero? Mr. Welch has forgotten more than I will ever know.
Cindy Munford on March 2, 2011 at 9:43 AM
Not to mention how he tried to screw his wife out of her share during their divorce.
Ward Cleaver on March 2, 2011 at 9:52 AM
Obama has to go in 2012. The GOP has to take the gloves, fight the race-card fears, and finally expose Obama as someone who was elected solely to break a color line. Period.
Obama is incompetent, un-American, and dangerous. He needs to be put down in the November 2012 election. I’m all for a capable president of any race, so long as he or she believes in American exceptionalism and a free-market economy that’s not run by politicians in statehouses or DC.
BuckeyeSam on March 2, 2011 at 10:00 AM
Palin/Welch 2012
The message to Dems: Don’t like Palin? Looks who’s next in line.
While Welch is not a die-hard conservative, he is pragmmatic and knows how to lead. If we fall into a dictatorship, Welch is a good choice.
BobMbx on March 2, 2011 at 10:02 AM
Her share of his work? Equitable distribution does not mean 50-50. A former GE Capital CEO went through the same thing. All his wife could offer as a claim was “cooked dinners and raised their kids”. My wife does the same thing. Does that mean I owe her a couple billion dollars?
Is that the going rate for being a wife and mother?
BobMbx on March 2, 2011 at 10:15 AM
By the way, apologies folks in my poor spelling this a.m. I’ve been back and forth at the computer and have not been careful in proofing my comments. Sorry about that :(
KickandSwimMom on March 2, 2011 at 10:27 AM
The haloed one told O’Reilly before the Super Bowl that he wasn’t moving to the center.Why is any of this even an issue for discussion?Take the man at his word and act accordingly.
xkaydet65 on March 2, 2011 at 10:34 AM
I can’t watch these shows anymore. No one knows how to interview. The hosts deliver droning, redundant stemwinder questions. Take a look at any average interview these days and compare the time the hosts consume as opposed to the guest. They’re just ego forums.
rrpjr on March 2, 2011 at 10:45 AM
It was obvious to many casual observers months before last November’s elections that Barry would merely pay lip-service and that creating the impression of him moving to the middle would trump actually doing so.
So, Welch pointing out the obvious–months after the fact–isn’t news to the peasants. They saw this coming a country mile away.
Christien on March 2, 2011 at 10:47 AM
“If someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” ~ Obama’s Medal of Freedom recipient, Maya Angelou
Fallon on March 2, 2011 at 11:04 AM
True. But to be fair, Welch was answering the question that was put to him – “has Obama moved to the center?” Much of the TV audience is used to hearing the greatness of Obama proclaimed, so frequent factual breakdowns are necessary to get through to these folks, even if it seems obvious to us.
Missy on March 2, 2011 at 11:17 AM
Yes the more I see the more I understand the elites are totally clueless
unseen on March 2, 2011 at 11:33 AM
They were married for a long time, and she supported his rise up the corporate ladder all the way. It was his idea to split up, not hers. And this wasn’t exactly a J. Howard Marshall / Anna Nicole Smith marriage.
Ward Cleaver on March 2, 2011 at 12:16 PM
Just amazing to see their blinking, baffled faces when confronted with a simple truth we all know but which contradicts their perpetually self-reinforced narratives. Of course we’re now dealing with a generation of “journalists” who’ve been nursed and raised and schooled in the narrative factory. I know some — kids raised in Marin County who’ve not had their orthodoxies about how the world works challenged in 25 years. It’s almost pitiable — if it weren’t so dangerous to the rest of us.
rrpjr on March 2, 2011 at 12:39 PM