PLANK SEPTEMBER 6, 2012
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CHARLOTTE—
“Osama Bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive.”
That line has been part of Biden's stump speech for months. He thinks those two episodes are the best arguments for Obama's reelection. I don't know much about the bin Laden raid, but I do know a lot about GM. And I think Biden has got a point.
The voters are going to judge Obama on the entirety of his presidency. And they should. But how much can you hold him responsible for the economy, the ordeal of passing health care reform, or the limits of financial reform when he inherited such a drastic economic crisis and confronted such a hostile Congress?
The rescue of the auto industry was different. Money for an auto rescue was already available. Obama had to decide to lend it and under what circumstances. His economic advisers had mixed feelings about such a massive intervention in the private market; they were particularly nervous about trying to rescue Chrysler, a company that seemed unlikely to survive even with assistance. Obama’s political advisers had polls showing that a majority of Americans, already angry over the Wall Street bailout, opposed rescuing the auto industry. The prospect didn’t even play well in the Midwest.
Biden, in his speech, mentioned that Romney wanted to “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt.” That’s from the headline in a New York Times column that Romney wrote in late 2008—and, in some respects, that’s a bit unfair. Romney didn’t write the headline. And the article itself argued for a structured bankruptcy, in which GM and Chrysler would reorganize and emerge as stronger companies. But since that time, Romney has taken multiple positions on the auto rescue, depending on the time and political circumstances. When he thought he had to please conservatives, he said negative things about the rescue. When he thought he had to win the Michigan primary, he said positive things. And he’s said frequently it was a mistake to put taxpayer funds at risk, even though private lenders were almost certainly unwilling or unable to make the loans on their own.
Could there be a more striking contrast in mettle?
Obama’s supporters have at times oversold the results of the rescue: It remains to be seen just how successful Chrysler and GM will be, although both companies seem strong at the moment. In order to reorganize, the companies had to downsize, which meant plenty of closings and plenty of labor concessions. The economy in Michigan remains fragile. But every respectable expert I know thinks that allowing the industry to collapse would have led to real economic catastrophe. That didn’t happen—and that’s one part of Obama’s record for which he, and he alone, can take responsibility.
Follow me on twitter @CitizenCohn
6 comments
I liked Biden's tone. He seemed to combine the intimate fireside chat with a hortatory style and he pulled it off. Loved it. Also liked the way he reduces Romney to an accountant and went on to show that life is not about bottom lines or just making big bucks. For most people its about having the right to the dignity a job can confer upon parents who care for children and sometimes their own elderly parents. Even the project of going after a mass murderer like bin Laden which Romney reduced to a cost accounting analysis was for Biden a task that made up proud as a nation putting justice above economic expediency. Biden's speech was very effective. Did I tell you I loved it? It was in its own way the equal of Clinton's speech yesterday. I liked Obama's speech also but it seemed to me anticlimactic after what Biden did. I'll be voting for the O'biden team.
- arnon1
September 7, 2012 at 12:08am
This statement is off base: "Obama’s supporters have at times oversold the results of the rescue: It remains to be seen just how successful Chrysler and GM will be, although both companies seem strong at the moment. In order to reorganize, the companies had to downsize, which meant plenty of closings and plenty of labor concessions." Today, in a bad economy, GM is generating $2 billion a quarter in cash and has around $35 billion in cash and cash equivalents. It is the world's largest automaker and has been turned around (not yet completely) to compete successfully with the very best Japanese and German car makers. GM and Chrysler have repaid their entire cash obligations to the US government and the government holds 500 million shares of GM stock. The million jobs saved and created not only result in better lives for the people employed but result in greater tax revenues for federal, state, and local governments. Within a few years with the sale of the GM stock the feds will have been fully repaid. The GM bailout also saved suppliers that provide parts for Ford and the foreign owned factories, which would have suffered if those suppliers had been closed. What does "remains to be seen" mean? Yes, any progress can be reversed in any business, but right now the momentum is with GM and Chrysler and their suppliers, and the communities in which they do business.
- PeteBeck
September 7, 2012 at 12:10am
I loved Biden's speech! Obama's too. They were awesome. I was thrilled. And, more than ever I don't, absolutely don't understand the Republicans and their obdurate refusal to help. I'm starting to think they hate us, really hate the people of America and our resources too, which they want to squander and pillage and soil and ruin. What am I missing here?
- Sophia
September 7, 2012 at 12:53am
"What am I missing here?" You're missing mean-spirited people, Sophia. There are multiple billions of them in the world. They will cut off their noses to spite their faces. They don't care if they hurt themselves, as long as they can hurt somebody else. Most of the people in the GOP base are like that now. I speak from experience. You wouldn't believe some of the things I've had hardcore Republicans say to me--as an acquaintance!
- magboy47.
September 7, 2012 at 2:14am
"I don't know much about the bin Laden raid" What's to know? Obama made the call, despite the very high risk of invading a nominal ally if the rail failed or bin Laden wasn't there, and despite the risk of it being another Iranian hostage rescue debacle. Had Bush done the same the heaping of praises would reach the heavens. But then again, if Obama was white and a Republican, the GOP would love him. That's about all anyone needs to know.
- Nari224
September 7, 2012 at 9:59am
Speaking of bin Laden, I saw a documentary years ago that featured a couple of the Special Forces guys who participated in the hunt for bin Laden soon after 9/11. They had him trapped in Tora Bora and were moving in for the capture/kill, when they got a mysterious and frustrating order to abort the mission. They were angry and confused. What they didn't know was that, at the last minute, Bush/Cheney had decided that they wanted bin Laden running free to terrorize the American public into supporting the coming invasion of Iraq. The abort order could have only come from the White House. Thanks, Bush and Cheney, anti-terrorist patriots that you are!
- magboy47.
September 7, 2012 at 10:54am