I’m basing it on his 07/24/07 speech to the Democratic National Committee in support of John Kerry.
A transcript of this speech is also available here.
He definitely made some anti-free trade statements. For example:
And fellow Americans, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, I say to you tonight: We have more work to do – more work to do for the workers I met in Galesburg, Illinois, who are losing their union jobs at the Maytag plant that’s moving to Mexico, and now are having to compete with their own children for jobs that pay seven bucks an hour.
[John Kerry’s] values and his record and affirm what is best in us. John Kerry believes in an America where hard work is rewarded; so instead of offering tax breaks to companies shipping jobs overseas, he offers them to companies creating jobs here at home.
This next quote is more blatantly anti-business.
John Kerry believes in energy independence, so we aren’t held hostage to the profits of oil companies, or the sabotage of foreign oil fields.
He also made some statements that were vaguely supportive of taking personal responsibility:
Now, don’t get me wrong. The people I meet – in small towns and big cities, in diners and office parks – they don’t expect government to solve all their problems. They know they have to work hard to get ahead, and they want to. Go into the collar counties around Chicago, and people will tell you they don’t want their tax money wasted, by a welfare agency or by the Pentagon. Go in – Go into any inner city neighborhood, and folks will tell you that government alone can’t teach our kids to learn; they know that parents have to teach, that children can’t achieve unless we raise their expectations and turn off the television sets and eradicate the slander that says a black youth with a book is acting white. They know those things.
People don’t expect – People don’t expect government to solve all their problems.
Most importantly, I think Barak Obama’s campaign will pivot around altruism (with a Christian flavor):
It is that fundamental belief – It is that fundamental belief: I am my brother’s keeper. I am my sister’s keeper that makes this country work. It’s what allows us to pursue our individual dreams and yet still come together as one American family.
I believe that we can give our middle class relief and provide working families with a road to opportunity.
I believe we can provide jobs to the jobless, homes to the homeless, and reclaim young people in cities across America from violence and despair.
After re-reading his speech, I still do not think that a primary description of Senator Obama should be “anti-business.” However, I expect his campaign to operate under many other principles of statism and of altruism. I expect to hear more Obama soundbytes centering around how the government can best serve the poor, the tired, the needy, the malnourished, the unemployed and the like.