Last month, Verizon Communications Inc. Chairman Ivan Seidenberg accused the federal government of “injecting uncertainty into the marketplace.” Last week, he was named to a presidential panel on U.S. exports.
President Barack Obama is trying to embrace corporate executives, even while tension between the White House and business community rises, as he seeks to get companies to step up investment and spur the economy. For executives, joining White House panels offers an inside track to influence policy.
“Obama is employing an age-old strategy used by presidents that’s known as co-optation,” said Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. “You bring into the bosom of your administration outsiders who are either hostile or might become hostile and lock them in.”
Full story: CEOs Questioning Obama Policies Put on Boards in `Co-Optation’ – Bloomberg