This morning President Obama posted a pro-business op ed in the Wall Street Journal. The op ed was coordinated with the issuance of a new executive order for a government-wide review of the rules already on the books to remove “outdated regulations that stifle job creation and make our economy less competitive.”
Do we see the handiwork of the new moderate White House Chief of Staff William Daley? The White House says the order doesn’t constitute any real change . A “senior administration official” this morning told Politico’s Mike Allen he was merely “laying out in detail the philosophy that has guided this Administration from the start.”
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor welcomed the President’s action, saying he suggested such a reform in December 2009. Nevertheless, Cantor said nice things about Obama: “Today’s Executive Order from President Obama shows that he heard the same message I did in the last election – that Americans are sick and tired of Washington’s excessive overreach and overspending.” He’s urging the administration to quickly move on the government-wide regulatory review.
The executive order has all the feel of Al Gore’s “re-inventing government” program in the 1990s that sought to root out silly and costly government regulations. Here we are 20 years later with a similar proposal. Still, it is low hanging fruit for the President and an easy thing for him to do to shore up the center. It also continues his image of reaching out to independents. This has all the fingerprints of a Bill Daley management.
Expect this theme to be part of the President’s look and feel in the President’s State of the Union address. And expect more Presidential pivots to come.
The only question is how long the left will hold its nose on his move to the center?
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