Overlooked: Obama to Speak at U.S. Chamber-Sponsored 'Business Summit' in Mumbai

When the likes of CBS “Face the Nation” moderator Bob Schieffer and The New York Times are calling out the Obama White House on its efforts to villainize the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, you have to know something is up. However, President Barack Obama hasn’t completely distanced himself from the Chamber, a fact which has gone largely overlooked by an increasingly skeptical media.

According to an Oct. 8 story posted on the IndUS Business Journal on its website, the same Barack Obama that publicly attacked the Chamber of Commerce for alleged foreign contributions is scheduled to speak to the U.S.-India Business Council just days after the upcoming midterm elections.

“The U.S.-India Business Council plans to organize a major business summit in Mumbai when President Barack Obama first visits India in November,” the story said. “The Business and Entrepreneurship Summit in Mumbai on November 6, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Commerce and Confederation of Indian Industry, will highlight the benefits of export-led American growth being generated by India’s rising economy and new purchasing power, the new investment flowing from India reviving American businesses, and the innovation by young entrepreneurs utilizing U.S. know-how and technology, according to the USIBC.”

The IndUS Business Journal includes a quote from USIBC President Ron Somers, who applauded Obama for agreeing to address the summit.

“This Business and Entrepreneurship Summit in India’s financial capital will be the president’s first stop with the business community in India, enabling the president to experience first-hand the excitement underway, generated by the entrepreneurial spirit that unites our business communities, and which binds our two countries,” said USIBC President Ron Somers. “The fact the president has agreed to address this business summit demonstrates the priority this president places on creating jobs for America by cultivating deeper commercial ties with India, the world's largest free-market economy.” 

And according to the story, the U.S.-India Business Council is a 35-year-old organization that is “hosted under the aegis of U.S. Chamber of Commerce.”

“The U.S.-India Business Council, formed in 1975 to advance commercial ties between the world’s two largest free-market democracies, is hosted under the aegis of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce,” the story said. “The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation representing more than 3 million businesses and organizations of every size, sector and region.”