“I am an ardent believer in the free market.” An ardent believer. So said President Obama to the Business Roundtable on Feb. 24.
“You create the jobs,” he said, adding that government has “a vital, if limited, role to play” in creating the conditions for entrepreneurs to create jobs.
He even used the s-word. “We have arrived at a juncture in our politics where reasonable efforts to update our regulations, or make basic investments in our future, are too often greeted with cries of ‘government takeover’ or even ‘socialism,’ ” he said.
I don’t think Obama is a socialist. He’s not going to take over General Motors or the Wall Street investment houses. He does, however, have a deep belief in government’s role in shaping American life, from the insulation in people’s houses to the fatness of their children. And also the management of — and the freedom of — the market.
