From Rand Simberg, who says the problem isn't that Obama doesn't spend enough time on the economy, it's that his philosophy isn't capable of stimulating growth, this sounds about right:
But something he could have done — that would have cost nothing at all — would have been to not scare the bejesus out of business in the first place during his campaign.
Obama talked of increasing capital gains taxes for reasons of “fairness,” even if it actually hurt government revenue. He talked of “spreading the wealth around.” He gave soaring speeches exalting the glory of the state and public service, while the contributions of business and capitalism were ignored. He treated “profit” like a four-letter word and promised to “raise taxes on the rich.” He made economically insane and historically ignorant arguments blaming the meltdown of the financial system on “capitalists” and “deregulation.”
Obama persuaded many small business people to pull in their horns and make plans to keep a low profile (including laying people off) in order to avoid the wealth confiscation of the populist, socialist, economic storm they saw coming with his election.
I wouldn't go so far as some on the right and suggest that Obama isn't even interested in the economy and, in fact, might be purposefully trying to wreck it so he can grow government even faster. But he clearly doesn't have a clue
