Posted on 02/23/2009 1:32:56 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Imagine for a moment John McCain was President, and few of the people on the task force he created to repair the crumbling auto industry owned American cars.
Would that be a public relations nightmare?
Well, an article published Monday by the Detroit News revealed that most of Barack Obama's newly announced Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry don't patronize the companies they've been appointed to rescue:
The vehicles owned by the Obama administration's auto team could reflect one reason why Detroit's Big Three automakers are in trouble: The list includes few new American cars.
Among the eight members named Friday to the Presidential Task Force on the Auto Industry and the 10 senior policy aides who will assist them in their work, two own American models. Add the Treasury Department's special adviser to the task force and the total jumps to three.
The Detroit News reviewed public records to discover what many of the task force and staff members drove, but information was not available on all of the officials, and records for some states were not complete.
At least two task force members don't own a car, and there are still two open slots on the 10-member panel that will be filled by the secretaries of labor and commerce, who have not yet been appointed.
The co-chairs of the task force -- Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and White House National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers -- both own foreign automobiles.
Geithner owns a 2008 Acura TSX, registered in New York. He once owned a 1999 Honda Accord and a 2002 Acura MDX, according to public records.
Is this a bit of a public relations problem for the Adminstration and something that media would be criticizing if a Republican was in the White House?
Has Zero appointed Joan Claybrook to the committee yet?
It indicates to me that they have SOME sense.
I can’t the UAW and avoid their crap whenever possible.
He should appoint Ralph Nader to head up the committee.
Well, that might actually give them a leg up on knowing what to build.
That said, this bureaucrat committee will solve nothing.
From what I've seen, many of the liberals who are supposedly on the same side as the UAW and support the bailouts drive foreign cars. To answer the question, no.
That’s what I think. They drive foreign autos, so they know what Detroit needs to change so that they’ll want to buy American again.
Had Detroit made a sedan like my Honda Accord, or a small SUV like my Nissan Xterra, then I would have shopped Detroit dealers too. Unfortunately every American rental car I’ve had has convinced me to not even look at Detroit. On the other hand, I got an Xterra once as a rental, was pleased with it, and ended up buying one when I was in the market again.
They need to get a panel of Honda and Toyota owners together, find out why they buy those brands, then fix their product (and gasp, innovate ahead of the Japanese!). I will admit that American offerings in the last couple of years have improved drastically, but after so many years of sub par cars, too many people are looking the other way.
The way things are going, I thought he had. ;-)
Ok, imagine they all drove American cars. Wouldn’t you question the judgement of someone picked to fix the American industry who consumed their crappy products? I think someone who drives a quality vehicle, may have a better clue about what is desirable in a car.
While I agree, if it were Republicans, the MSM would shred them for this, I think the issue is a non-starter.
Nader still has a corvair, right?
Probably the Chinese version.
Hardly a surprise. The upper middle class liberals who support Obama almost all drive foreign cars. The mainstay of Detroit is the conservative middle class, because of its patriotic sentiments. The Obama loving liberals lack that patriotism, and therefore choose to patronize foreign companies when they make their largest consumer purchase.
Hey, 2ndDivisionVet, I think FoxNews is reading your posts, they are going to do this story this morning!
I expect to join them next time I purchase a car. Gettlefinger's likening today's GOP to the Democrats who tried to stop the Civil Rights Act was the last straw.
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