Everybody by now is aware of the grisly state of the American economy. And it’s pretty clear that whether the president’s people would like for the public to continue to blame Bush for it the Washington Post’s poll today makes clear that well has run dry.

It’s in that context which we offer this video; it’s of Obama’s nominee for Commerce Secretary, John Bryson. Who we’re supposed to believe is qualified for the position because he’s the CEO of a utility.

Ask yourself if opinions like these would make you happy if he was running the power company servicing your neighborhood.

Via Verum Serum.

As the CEO of a private company, this guy was going around making public statements along the lines that his customers were going to get drilled right in the pocketbook so we could do something about global warming. Amazingly he didn’t lose his job amid a revolt from those customers; if Entergy’s CEO, for example, were to make such a hostile and insensitive statement toward power consumers in Louisiana he’d have a hell of a PR mess on his hands, but apparently after Bryson inflicted widespread brownouts on the folks in California back in 2003 they became more docile. Makes you appreciate Entergy a little, for certain.

Now, we’re supposed to believe that Bryson, who has already demonstrated he doesn’t give a damn about his customers as a corporate CEO, would be the kind of Commerce Secretary the American people would find responsive to our needs or to the economy at large?

What kind of signal does this send to the markets? Wall Street? Main Street?

It’s impossible to believe Bryson’s nomination will go through. With 47 Republicans in the Senate a filibuster is assured. And with the new normal of a congressional recess being a thing of the past until Obama is gone, the president doesn’t have the option of a recess appointment for Bryson.

But the fact that Bryson was considered as a realistic choice for the Commerce Department is highly instructive. This guy is committed to an agenda which destroys commerce.

On May 31, before Bryson was put forth as the Commerce nominee, the Dow closed at 12,569.79, up 128.21.

Today, it closed at 12,070.81.

It has fallen every day since Bryson was put out there.

Causative effect? Probably not, but there is no question the markets didn’t like this pick.

The markets aren’t made up of stupid people. Or blind people. They see this man as a disaster. They know what kinds of policies are coming from the Obama administration, and they know what the effects of those policies will be.