Race for 2012: No business advantage  

>>> remember the issue of jobs and the economy? i do, i thought that was the number one issue of this campaign. any way, they have taken a back seat this week to made care, the president and his allies line up to attack paul ryan and his budget plan. but the change in focus a good thing for the president? with me now, delaware's democratic governor, jack markle. he is actually the author of an op ed that you seem to go after mitt romney a little bit on business experience and whether it translates or not into governing are. a little background on you, i should let people know, you were in the private sector working at nextel, ver early on, 13th employee, you write this morning in your op ed . what lessons are you -- make the argument here, the lessons from the private sector that are good to take away and which ones do you think are not good to take away?

>> good morning and thanks for having me with you, chuck. i think that really is the question, what lessons do you learn from the private sector ? governor romney has, for years now, going back to his race against senator kennedy and then against shannon o'brien for governor of massachusetts says basically elect me governor, elect me president, because i've been in business . i have also been in business as you mentioned, having been with ex-tell from number 13 to 3,000, i was with kinsey and comcast as well. i just believe he has learned many of the wrong lessons it is not about from my perspective, a topdown approach. rather, it ought to be about building the economy for a strong middle class . and if -- and the real question what does it take to do that? that's what i would like to explore.

>> that sounded like -- no offense, sounded like just the same talking point i hear out of the white house , but i guess i go back to your business experiences. so, let me -- let's start with this. one thing about the business world is you do have to sometimes pick winners and losers in your own -- you got to make a decision, this isn't going well, i am going too cut off funding, might have to lay these people off if i'm going to invest over here. so making a tough decision that sometimes politicians don't want do because of votes, isn't that a good experience to take away?

>> certainly good to make tough decision, lots of places you can learn that. here is the real point. and this -- my perspective is very much informed not only by my experience in the business world but also by the fact that i visited 750 businesses over the last three and a half years. when i do i ask them what can we do to facilitate your success? here's what they tell me, it's about schools and workforce it is about quality of life . it is about having reasonable taxes, good cost of doing business , having a very responsive government and having good infrastructure. that's basically the list. it is not just about taxes, taxes, taxes. i think is a very, very different perspective. by the way, i will tell you that i also believe that the president has taken a number of steps, they don't often get reported but if you look at the bill he signed a couple months ago, the jobs act, that was to make it easier for companies to go public, because he recognized that so many jobs get created after an ipo and getting increasingly difficult for companies to go public.

>> let me ask you this, why do you think there are so many businesses sitting on the sidelines with their money right now, when -- i always hear this nebulous phrase "uncertainty" and i hear businesses will say well, they are not sure how the president's health care slaw going to work or they are not sure what's gonna happen with the fiscal cliff. you know, you can always find an excuse into the to spend money. that sounds to me like simply an excuse by some of these business owners.

>> i think the uncertainty is real. in the end, businesses will be more likely to invest when they are certain they are going to get some kind of positive return on that investment. i think there has been enough uncertainty, includinging the issues that you just mentioned, which is why it would be good to figure out the fiscal cliff issues once and for all. but again, i think if you look at the -- some of the steps that the president has taken here, especially around promoting exports, around attracting foreign direct investment , these are things very much linked to job creation in this country. we have certainly got a lot of work do but my view is that the more businesses focus on that the more businesses understand that there is a role for the government to play when they are trying to participate in markets around the world that may be growing faster than ours, they will appreciate the step these are being taken there.

>> all right. guy to the leave it there, democratic governor from delaware, jack markle, thanks for coming on this morning.

>> thanks.

>>