This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Thursday, January 14, 2010.

I'm Caleb Brown.

President Obama loves to cozy up to big business even as he gives the impression he's taking on those same big corporate

corporate interests.

Washington examiner columnist Tim Carney's new book,

Obamaomics looks into how that relationship functions in health care and other areas.

We spoke following a forum for the book held Tuesday.

When should it have been clear to, if not progressives, people generally who thought that President Obama was serious about a particular

style of health care reform that would take on big insurance companies.

Well, remember, Obama started, he did not support an individual mandate. He did not

support making it illegal for us not to buy insurers products and he did

support a government option.

By February I was already writing column saying the insurers are going to win because they're

fine with the current system where there's competition is

gummed up by all sorts of regulations but they're also fine if they get

subsidies if they get the individual mandate they're better off in some ways there

so insurers can walk away from the table

Barack Obama couldn't walk away from the table this is part of the way that the

special interests always come out ahead is they usually have more leverage than the politician.

So they can say, all right, we'll oppose you if you don't give us what you want.

And so I think that in September it was rock solid shore when Obama had the speech in front of the joint session of Congress where he said he basically said that he was ready to abandon the government option and he for the first time called for an

individual mandate.

...