Big Business Will Regret Empowering Jim DeMint

Steven Pearlstein: Warns business leaders to be careful what they wish for
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 29, 2010 1:44 PM CDT
Big Business Will Regret Empowering Jim DeMint
FILE - In this Feb. 4, 2010 file photo, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, to discuss the introduction of legislation to enact a one-year earmark moratorium and a Balanced Budget Constitutional Amendment. Over the past year, DeMint has morphed from...   (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke, File)

Steven Pearlstein warns the business community not to get too excited about the prospect of Jim DeMint and company dealing a humbling defeat to Democrats in the midterms: "You're about to create a political monster that you can't control, one bent not on reforming but on destroying the institutional framework that allows an advanced industrial economy to grow and thrive."

Expect legislative gridlock and even more uncertainty about federal regulations, writes Pearlstein in the Washington Post. He doesn't expect business leaders to suddenly start backing liberals, but "you shouldn't encourage a political dynamic in which the goal is total victory, compromise is considered defeat and moderates are driven out." It's easy to make a villain out of President Obama. "But is there anyone there at the Business Roundtable with the courage to criticize Jim DeMint?" (More Jim DeMint stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X