Another reason I cannot support Obama: cracking down on excessive CEO pay

It is still very likely that I will vote for Barack Obama next month, but it is more because I see him as slightly closer to center and the lesser of two evils rather than because I find him truly compelling. Yet another example of why I cannot wholeheartedly support him was a New York Times blog post by Jeff Zeleny entitled "Obama: Banking Plan Must Rein in Executive Pay" which quoted Barack as saying "I am concerned that the way that they structure this new mechanism that we are cracking down on excessive CEO pay -- that I think should be part of the deal." I personally want to see executive pay brought more in line with economic fundamentals, but I do not see executive compensation as a business parameter that the government should have any right to control.

By all means, a President Obama should feel free to invite the CEOs of America's top 100 businesses to Washington and invite them to offer proposals for how to introduce a more sincere degree of equity and balance into executive compensation, on a voluntary basis, but that is about as far as the government should go. I see "cracking down on excessive CEO pay" as simple election-year pandering and pseudo-populism.

My other thought is that I sincerely suspect that Barack is absolutely lying and has no intention of lifting even one finger to seriously attempt to "rein in executive pay" once he takes office.

Ultimately, that is why I am likely to vote for him, the simple fact that many of his positions and postures and pronouncements that I find offensive or unhelpful are in fact simply old-fashioned election-year pandering and classic "campaign promises" that will fade away as soon as the polls close on election day.

-- Jack Krupansky