Proclaiming that you don’t and wouldn’t have supported the bailout of General Motors and Chrysler is about as sure-fire a way to guarantee you won’t win any votes in the state of Michigan as one could possibly imagine – and yet Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney did exactly that.
What makes the op-ed printed in The Detroit News and written by Romney all that more interesting is that in the midst of reiterating his disapproval of the bailouts of GM and Chrysler (both based in Michigan), the former Governor of Massachusetts tries to make the case that Michigan voters should still vote for him for President of the United States of America.
While the seemingly impossible combination of messages was obviously present in the op-ed, the more immediate goal was apparently to convey that Romney believed that thing in Detroit would actually be better – not worse, as Obama claims – had the federal government not been involved in the bailout of the two automakers. How so? Romney explains that in a past op-ed posted in the New York Times he argued that a managed bankruptcy would have been a more favorable approach to an “$85 billion sweetheart deal disguised as a rescue plan.”
Although GM and Chrysler did eventually enter bankruptcy, it was instead a managed bankruptcy, one in which those who otherwise would have had legal rights to being paid were overlooked, while, as Romney points out, unions were given a 55 percent ownership stake in Chrysler, as well as protection to pensions and healthcare, while non-union workers lost their pensions, health and life insurance.
“While a lot of workers and investors got the short end of the stick, Obama’s union allies — and his major campaign contributors — reaped reward upon reward, all on the taxpayer’s dime,” penned Romney.
The president hopeful went on to explain that he believes the remaining stake in GM needs to be sold, the money redistributed to taxpayers and the American industry needs to be returned to a state of existence that does not include government ownership or undue intervention. Romney closes with a final appeal to Michigan voters based on his own, personal Detroit heritage and upbringing, saying, “Their [private individuals] dream is alive in all of us who have ever called Detroit home. And with a Detroiter in the White House, that dream can be realized once again.”
