Earlier this summer, in the space of just 24 hours, President Barack Obama went from applauding Alcoa, a corporate jet parts supplier, to vilifying the very customers who use that aluminum on their business jets. We were left totally perplexed by the Administration’s singling out of business aircraft owners with blatant political demagoguery.
This ill-informed criticism of corporate jets could be chalked up to just more of the same partisan bickering if it weren’t for the jobs at stake. Attacking business jets six times in a single press conference is a calculated and calibrated assault that does real harm to one of the leading manufacturing and export industries in the United States. It seems that the Administration just does not understand the connection between its own policies and rhetoric and its impact on manufacturing jobs. Are they willing to risk losing even more manufacturing jobs and potentially adding to the pain that so many working families have already endured just for political advantage?
