Political Payback

When Speaker Pelosi announced Democrats' intentions of bailing out the auto industry, this signaled a significant direction for the Obama era. They have every intention of bailing out an automobile industry that has been less fuel-efficient, lower quality, less inspiring and more expensive than the automobiles of foreign-owned competitors.

During the primary campaign, Mitt Romney said that if he became president, these lost automobile jobs would return to Michigan within six months. McCain said that these jobs are not coming back to Michigan and displaced employees need to retrain and retool. Without giving specifics, Obama gave these unemployed workers HOPE that the jobs were going to return when he became president.

History will show that McCain was right. The textile mills did not return to New England and the steel mills did not return to Western Pennsylvania.

Unfortunately, presidential candidates do not win elections by being candid. The voters of Michigan and the UAW supported Obama overwhelmingly. Now the new administration must pay its due bill. While there is no rational reason to believe that automobile jobs will ever permanently return to Michigan, the new administration will squander taxpayer money on subsidies to the Big Three to give unemployed automobile workers hope in the impossible dream.