Chamber not intimidated by Obama attacks

Kimberley Strassel:

"One thing I can tell you: They can go out and chase me and chase the Chamber and put stuff in the newspaper. It only . . . drives more and more support. . . . You think we are going to blink because a couple of people are out shooting at us? Tell 'em to put their damn helmets on."

Them's fighting words, all the more so when delivered in the feisty, New York accent of U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue. The 71-year-old was recruited 12 years ago in order to revitalize a drifting business lobby. And the gregarious chief hasn't disappointed: He's grown the Chamber's membership, tripled its budget, transformed its lobby shop, and increasingly thrust it into the political fray. Most recently he's ginned up opposition to union "card check," the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) plans to regulate carbon emissions, and parts of the proposed financial overhaul.

The Obama administration's response has been to treat the Chamber like it has Fox News Channel: with brass knuckles. It has launched a campaign to undermine the organization by making CEOs think twice about associating with it. President Obama has openly criticized the Chamber, while adviser Valerie Jarrett has dismissed it as "old school" and acknowledged that the White House is bypassing it to work individually with CEOs.

...

For a man who prides himself on working both sides of the aisle, the Chamber these days is not a fun place for Mr. Donohue. Then again, he has an Irish temper and doesn't shrink from a brawl. At least for now, he's showing no signs of muting the Chamber's message.

"I did an interview a couple of week ago, and somebody said, 'Well, the White House says that you've become Dr. No and you are going to lose your seat at the table.' And I said, 'The White House doesn't give out the seats at the table. The seats at the table go to the people who have a rational policy, who have strong people to advance that policy, that have a strong grass-roots system, that have the assets to support their program, and that are willing to play in the political process," Mr. Donohue remarks, sitting in his office, which looks across Lafayette Park to the White House.

"The bottom line is you can't do this job if you are squeaky about all that stuff. My job is to represent the American business community in an honorable way, to present their interests in a way that I really think is good for them and good for this country. And," he adds with a pointed look, "I plan to keep doing it."

One irony of the Obama administration's demonization campaign is that Mr. Donohue is hardly a right-wing ideologue. There was a day, in the 1970s and 1980s, when the Chamber fought for limited government. But starting in the 1990s, the group became more interested in using Washington to forward a narrower corporate self-interest.

Mr. Donohue, who spent 13 years at the head of the American Trucking Association, also points out that the Chamber has done plenty to help the current administration. It supported last year's bailout funds ("we had to stabilize the banks"); the stimulus ("we could have gone into a real depression if there wasn't some confidence, some belief we could get over the next hump"); the auto bailouts ("this was a bellwether of the American company"), and even cash for clunkers.

If anything, the Chamber has irked conservatives with support of key aspects of the Obama agenda. Corporate America wants government to ease health-care costs, and the Chamber lobbied for a bill--at least until August, when it unleashed ads critical of the bloated Democratic proposals. Corporate America also wants the certainty of a cap-and-trade bill, and the Chamber has dutifully pushed for what Mr. Donohue describes as a "rational climate bill that keeps people employed, that uses our technology, that encourages global agreement and that is done by the Congress—not the EPA."

...

One of the problems with the Obama attacks is that groups like the Chamber go different ways on different issues and if they alienate them because of one issue they risk losing their support on issues where they can help them. The Chicago Way can get in the way of progress. I probably oppose the administration much more than the Chamber of Commerce. But, I would not alienate them from my side on the issues I agree on. They are right on cap and trade and energy. The administration is dead boneheaded wrong on those issues. It is also in denial about the effect of those programs on our economy.