One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under the threat that the full force of the White House Press Corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight.
It sounds like Obama is taking a page from the book of another well known Chicago power broker – Al Capone. I wonder if it will come to the point of collecting “protection” money from businesses? Oh, wait, that's already happening! All one needs to do is look at the proposed budget to see how the Obama Administration is going to coerce funds from businesses and taxpayers.
To paraphrase the aforementioned Glenn Reynolds, “They said if I voted for John McCain, the White House would turn to using intimidation against opponents, and they were right!”