January 8th 2009
Sunstein’s Appointment A Cloud On Business
When I first wrote about Cass Sunstein in April 2005, the U. of Chicago law prof (he’s now at Harvard) was lecturing conservatives about their foolish desire to see Pres. Bush’s appointment of conservative judges through. I said at the time:
Sunstein is guilty of mighty condescension in this article, minimizing the intelligence of his opponent, letting his like-thinking readers assume a similar self-agrandizing hautiness …
That categorization of Sunstein stayed true through several following posts on this paragon of elite left-wing academia (here, here, here, here), so who could be a better appointee for Obama’s’ regulatory czar? Who better to impose draconian new regulations on business? He’s from Chicago, he’s an academic, and he doesn’t bother trying to understand any opion but his own … and his new master’s, Obama.
This is a hugely important appointment that will have profound impacts on American business. Says the WSJ:
Although obscure, the post wields outsize power. It oversees regulations throughout the government, from the Environmental Protection Agency to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Obama aides have said the job will be crucial as the new administration overhauls financial-services regulations, attempts to pass universal health care and tries to forge a new approach to controlling emissions of greenhouse gases.
Sunstein will represent a dramatic change in the position. Bush’s appointee, Susan Dudley, is a market-oriented thinker who sees the benefit of judicious deregulation. Sunstein, on the other hand, is known for his writings on “law and behavioral economics,” which the WSJ says “seeks to shape law and policy around the way research shows people actually behave.”
Think about that for a moment. Rather than let the markets behave naturally, Sunstein would try to figure out what “naturally” really means, then affect changes in policy and law that would make the market work by his determination of what the people really want, not by what the people themselves really want. See what I mean about his condescending attitude being relevant?
Perhaps also figuring into his appointment is Sunstein’s fawning love letter about Obama that appeared in Huffpo last March:
But at the University of Chicago, Obama is liked and admired by Republicans and Democrats alike. Some of the local Reagan enthusiasts are Obama supporters. Why? It doesn’t hurt that he’s a great guy, with a personal touch and a lot of warmth. It certainly helps that he is exceptionally able.
But niceness and ability are only part of the story. Obama also has a genuinely independent mind, he’s a terrific listener and he goes wherever reason takes him.
Now can I get a job with you, Barry?
On the plus side, Sunstein is married to Samantha Power, the former Obama foreign policy advisor who had to resign after calling Hillary a monster.
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January 23rd, 2009 at 3:36 pm
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