Lots of media chatter about how President Obama is meeting today with a large group of CEOs, in order to put a more business-friendly face on his administration (apparently big business bailouts, major R&D funding increases and top-earner tax cuts weren’t enough capitulation).
What’s particularly interesting, however, is the two private-sector attendees who aren’t actual CEOs: Mark Gallogly, the onetime Blackstone Group pro who now helps manage Centerbridge Partners, and venture capitalist John Doerr.
I’m not saying they shouldn’t have a seat at this type of table. In fact, I thought they already did.
Gallogly and Doerr are both part of Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board, formed in early 2009 and chaired by Paul Volcker. So are fellow meeting attendees Penny Pritzker and Jeffrey Immelt.
Does this mean folks like Gallogly and Doerr are going to run interference for Obama today? After all, they already should have fairly regular access. Right?
Or was it yet another group formed to create a lengthy report — ERAB’s read like a Choose your Own Adventure, rather than a specific prescription — that is more about public relations than public policy?
Just asking…