So the mess in Detroit--the tottering Big Three automakers--is a problem the Democrats have to solve. Solve? Oops. Try picking the least rotten option.
Right now the ball is in Nancy Pelosi's court, as the Wall Street Journal's as Kimberly A. Strassel tells us:
And so Mrs. Pelosi has been landed with Detroit, again. The auto makers have staged a brilliant PR campaign, tying their misfortunes to today's financial mess -- never mind those decades of mismanagement. They've warned that the ripple effect of a crash could cost three million to four million jobs. Democrats have also undoubtedly been reminded by UAW President Ron Gettelfinger that those come from his union, which recently helped Mrs. Pelosi win an election.
The problem is how not to offend the other groups that just helped her win an election. The White House has intimated that its price for Democratic legislation in a lame-duck session would be the passage of the Colombia trade agreement. Yet Mrs. Pelosi has successfully sat on that deal for months at the demand of the broader union movement, which just spent hundreds of millions to increase Democratic majority.
Meanwhile, another trial balloon -- a proposal to loosen the rules governing the $25 billion in green money -- sent Mrs. Pelosi's environmental friends bonkers. They also just spent big helping Democrats, and insist the money go to building clean cars, not digging out Detroit.
Mrs. Pelosi has since tasked Barney Frank with "drafting" a bailout bill. Yet by yesterday, Democrats were backing away from a vote, complaining they weren't getting help from Republicans. That might work now, though come January, a bigger Democratic majority will no longer have the GOP as an excuse. By the looks of this week, that's when the real fun begins.
Meanwhile, the Denver Post's David Harsanyi phrases it perfectly:
I, for one, have been punished enough. I already own an American car.
Technorati tags:
detroit 
automobiles 
cars 
Chrysler 
economy 
auto industry 
business
Pelosi
9 comments:
The big three are "sinking" fast.
I just hope Toyota doesn't sink.
then I'd have to start think about a different brand. Always assuming
the other car companies don't fold as well.
Oh we know "Bush" had absolutely
nothing to do with the bad shape
the economy is in. It was them "dems"!
There is plenty of blame to go around. But who would you put more faith in confronting the unions? Dems or the GOP?
The GOP for sure. Obama wants a
bailout for the "big 3". And
GMAC is in trouble as well.
Dems are used to being stuck with cleaning up Republican economic messes. Reagan/Bush ran the economy into the ground and the Clinton admin. brought us a budget surplus. I have no doubt that after 8 years of an Obama admin. the country's economy will be back in good shape.
Clinton tried to govern from the left, and the Gingrich revolution pushed him to the center. That's how the "Dems" made the economy prosper.
Bush is a certified "Idiot". And
his brother Jeb was instrumental
in making sure he got into office!
Maybe if Bushy had Governed from
the (left) there would't have been
another war. Good OL' Newt saved
the day, chaulk another one up for
the Repuplican side! Bush is just finishing what Bush Sr. started.
...So much for not handing problems off to the next president.
John, why has your guy W thrown in the towel with more than two months to go?
Trying to fix the mess left behind
by George Bush would be like
trying to to repair the Titanic
with bailing wire and duct tape!
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