Via Glenn Mickey Kaus bottom lines the political price of the president’s moves at GM and Chrysler.
…won’t Obama now “own” the GM problem? If the company shuts down in the near future, costing tens of thousands of blue collar jobs, it will be under executives implicitly or explicitly chosen by Obama. It will be Obama’s failure, not simply GM’s failure, no? A public sector failure, not just a business failure. Doesn’t that make it harder, not easier, for the administration to walk away and force the company into bankruptcy (if, for example, the company’s plans for “viability” continue to fall short after the new 60-day deadline)? And doesn’t that, in turn, make extracting the necessary concessions (by threatening bankruptcy) more difficult as well?
If you are going to be the man you are going to be the man. Economically this is a really nasty move, politically it is a really risky one, but it is the logical result of companies rushing to take federal dough and the strings that come with it.
Update: Talkleft notices a double standard.
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