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Obama names G.E. executive to head post
Continuing his outreach to business, President Barack Obama Friday named Jeffrey Immelt, the chairman and chief executive of General Electric, to head a new, high-profile panel that will advise him on ways to help the private sector create jobs.
Immelt will chair a new President's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, which will replace another group of outside economic advisers led by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. The Volcker panel, which was temporary, is set to expire next month.
More than a change of players and titles, the move suggests a shift in the White House's approach as the president switches from a panel and chairman aimed at regulating financial markets to a new group of advisers charged with finding ways to help business.
Obama said it was time for a change. "As we enter a new phase in our recovery," he said, "I have asked the new council to focus its work on finding new ways to encourage the private sector to hire and invest in American competitiveness."
It's the latest in a series of steps to woo business that the president has taken since he led his Democratic Party to sweeping losses in last November's elections, losses that were fueled in part by anti-Democrat ads financed by business groups.