Will the GM bailout be Obama's tipping point?

Washington Examiner ^ | July 1, 2009 | Byron York

[Zakeet]

Observers across the political spectrum have marveled at Barack Obama's ability to maintain a high job approval rating even as the public grows skeptical about some of his key policy initiatives. There's a feeling, among Republicans at least, that sooner or later he’s going to reach a tipping point between his personal popularity and the unpopularity of his proposals, and that his job approval rating will suffer. That moment will come when Obama has to actually stand behind specific proposals -- when he has to put his name on a health care plan that will lead to the rationing of medical treatment, or an energy plan that will lead to significantly higher electrical bills.

We might be catching a glimpse of Obama’s tipping point with his handling of General Motors' bankruptcy, and Chrysler's before it. The government takeover of the automakers is by far the most unpopular thing Obama has done so far. And it's not just unpopular -- it is partisan, appealing to the base of his party and virtually no one else.

In a Washington Post poll in late April, just 41 percent of those surveyed approved of Obama's handling of the automaker problem ... According to a detailed breakdown of a Gallup poll from the same time, people in virtually every demographic and political category looked askance at the continuing bailout of the automakers.

People of all age groups disapproved. People in every region of the country disapproved. Men disapproved. Women disapproved. People with graduate degrees disapproved. People with less than a high school degree disapproved. People who go to church a lot disapproved. People who don't go to church at all disapproved. People who make more than $75,000 a year disapproved. People who make less than $20,000 a year disapproved.

[petercooper]

How Rick Wagoner Lost GM

[ScottinVA]

“Maybe they’ve just been too beaten down by political correctness, and taking the heavy economic blow they’ve already suffered they don’t want to think of themselves as unPC and thus somehow uncharitable as well?”

If they’re feeling subdued and beaten down now, imagine what they’ll be feeling after four years.

[9YearLurker]

I don’t think any of us thought the US would so accelerate its own decline and cede leadership of the free world as we have. Perhaps our citizenship has another surprise in store for us?

[9YearLurker]

*citizenry*

[EBH]

There's the problem right there...he owns a business. That makes him an enemy of the people. His wealth must be redistributed and he needs to under the fairness of their actions.

[dools007]

Forget about the polls because this story is far from over.

The left has a marvelous capacity for hanging on to failure. Look how many years the commie commissars in the old CCCP held on to the hope that one more five-year plan would turn things around. Cuba and N. Korea are basket cases. Every South American that has embraced the left is either economically broke or has ultimately rejected it. And then there’s China. The Chinese communist government is a dead government walking. Now that free enterprise is alive and well there, the commissars are discovering it is easier to go with the flow than return to the bad old Mao days. That does not mean that China does not have national security concerns and aspirations that will conflict with its neighbors, America and some Europeon countries. I predict that the soviet style commie government will ultimately fade way.

So, back to GM. The Marxist Onada and his crowd, playing to type, have glommed on to a loser—GM. I predict The Messiah will hang on to that sinking ship until it finally turns keel up and joins the Titanic.

Not understanding a thing about how a real market economy works, Onada thinks that consumers will buy GM cars—even as it struggles with bankruptcy and closes dealerships. But the other car companies are going to smell blood in the water. I predict they will price GM right out of the market. Especially, if GM turns to producing so-called “green” cars that are not needed and nobody wants. And especially if our new car tycoons—Onada, Pelosi, Reid and the unions—try to run the show.

[hosepipe]

Maybe the new General Motors will under gov’t control give FREE cars to get to the FREE health care..

[madinmadtown]

I think that you make some very good points. Even Russia has bad things to say about the seventy years of Soviet rule these days, but the pesky problem is that quest for power creates the need for more power in the minds of men. Mugabe and Kim are modern, living examples of absolute power trying to control every aspect of the lives of the citizen from food to sanitation to education.
I, unfortunately, see Obama (and whoever benefits from his position) wanting power in the manner of Mugabe and Kim with plenty of resentment and bitterness also fueling the quest for more and more power. It is an extremely dangerous mix.
I understand your point about Obama perhaps believing that people will continue to buy GM cars. They bought him, afterall, why shouldn't they buy what he promotes? I don't think that he cares. In fact, I think that he ultimately just wants to ruin GM, but it isn't politically expedient to do it so blatantly. Now, he is able to say that he tried to help them, but there was nothing to be able to be done in the end to save them. Obama looks like he put up a fight, but he gets what he wants in the end, which is the demise of GM.

[The Great RJ]

I have a feeling even auto union members will be disapproving when their jobs disappear and the billions in government subsidies will just go into the hands of government bureaucrats and union bosses. Foreign autos Toyota, Honda and Hyundai made by non union workers in US plants will dominate the US market.

[dools007]

Oh, be assured, I understand that the ultimate achievement for The Marxist Onada is to impose a soviet style dictatorship on America. When you subscribe to a philosphy of I’m absolutely right and you will do what I say or else, that can only lead to totalitarianism.

I disagree that The Messiah wants GM to fail. On the contrary, I think he genuinely believes that he can save it. In doing so, he lays further groundwork for Americans accepting the nationalization of everything. And then we descend into the negative spiral of five and ten year government plans that never work.

This is the same government that can’t even manage its budget today.

[madinmadtown]

It seems to me that the only way that GM can be “successful” with the government managing it, is if it is the only choice the citizens are allowed. The government would make tariffs on imports prohibitively expensive and eventually it will set its sights on Ford. Government regulation and restrictions will overwhelm Ford. I read that Obama made a speech yesterday about “turning in” older car models, so that the US wouldn't even have the option of Cuba with the vintage automobile.
I believe that you are correct in believing that Obama really does believe that he is capable of making GM successful. He seems to believe that he alone is exceptional in an otherwise unexceptional country.
General Motors has long been a bugaboo of the left, therefore, I think that he was conditioned long ago to regard it as representative of the inherent evil of American idealism and that is why I think he would want it to fail. I think that he believes that it has already fallen. We will be calling the former GM a new name in the coming months....it will be replaced with something more progressive, perhaps another BO initialed moniker.