W.H. makes 'enemies' of Bush allies

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By Jon Ward

The Obama White House has deliberately placed favored Washington institutions of the Bush years in its crosshairs, a sign of an escalating battle between the Democratic administration and some of the city's pre-eminent power players.

In recent days, the administration has attacked the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the insurance industry for opposing key administration objectives, has criticized the nation's largest banks and financial firms for outsized executive pay, and has tried to delegitimize the Fox News Channel by mocking its objectivity.

"When you're on their side, it's all OK, but if you're not, they rain hell down on you," said R. Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, bemoaning the administration's bellicose response to differing opinions on health care and financial regulatory reform proposals.

But Dan Pfeiffer, President Obama's deputy communications director, said the Democratic White House is not abiding by the rules that defined the nation's capital when a Republican president was in office.

"The insurers, the chamber and other special interests had the run of this town for the last eight years. That's not true anymore," Mr. Pfeiffer said. "And they are reacting to the new reality."

Yet the administration's targets are offended by what they consider misleading vitriol. They also say the tactics are dated and dangerous to serious discourse.

A senior Republican lawmaker on Wednesday raised concern that the White House was creating an "enemies list" in much the same way that the Nixon White House did.

"If the president and his top aides treat people with different views as enemies instead of listening to what they have to say, they're likely to end up with a narrow view and a feeling that the whole world is out to get them," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, Tennessee Republican.

In comments on the Senate Floor, Mr. Alexander said he has "an uneasy feeling, only 10 months into this new administration, that we're beginning to see symptoms of this same kind of animus developing in the Obama administration" as those that animated the Nixon White House - where Mr. Alexander himself served as a young aide.

The Obama White House used Mr. Alexander's words to portray Republicans as obstructionist, a charge they have aimed at the GOP repeatedly.