Crony watch: "Obama-friendly business group given great access to the White House"

Sleeping with the enemy?

A business group considered friendly to President Obama has been granted high-level access to senior White House officials as “fiscal cliff” negotiations have gripped Washington.

Business Forward on Thursday will host the last in a series of seven briefings where high-level Obama administration officials have discussed the budgets cuts and tax increases of the fiscal cliff with business executives...

Some of Business Forward’s members include AT&T, Facebook, Lockheed Martin, McDonald’s, Verizon and Wal-Mart, according to the group’s website.

The White House outreach comes amid a broader push by Obama to rally business support for a deficit deal. The president has summoned groups of chief executives to the White House for fiscal cliff discussions, and on Wednesday made a visit to the Business Roundtable, one of the leading industry groups in town.

But some in Washington say Business Forward — a name that evokes the slogan of the president’s reelection campaign — enjoys a favored status with the White House because it was formed in 2009 explicitly to advance the president’s agenda. (bold emphasis added)

On the one hand, executives of public companies have a duty to do what is right for their stockholders, and providing political air cover for the president might seem to be in service of that duty. On the other hand, conservatives by their nature have longer memories than other voters, and they will remember these names.

CWCID: Glenn Reynolds.