General Motors Bans Obama From Its Plants
Bailed out domestic auto giant General Motors doesn’t want any presidential visits this election season from either candidate, but it’s Obama who has been trying to make GM and its bailout part of his campaign strategy. Last year Obama’s chief political adviser David Axelrod said the president’s re-election slogan should be “GM is alive and Bin Laden is dead.”
Unfortunately from the President, he won’t be able to sell that message using GM as a backdrop this election cycle:
The Detroit car giant wants to be viewed as a success story — not the arm of any campaign. After all, Democrats, Republicans and independents all buy vehicles.
“We would like to put all of our energy behind selling our cars and trucks,” said Bob Ferguson, GM’s vice president for global public policy. “It’s an understatement to say we can’t wait for November to get here.”
GM and experts say the company has been intentionally less visible in lobbying on some federal issues and is, in effect, taking cover until the election is over.
Meanwhile, according to the most recent figures on the bailout released by the US Treasury, taxpayers stand to lose $25 billion on the GM bailout.
No wonder they want to fly below the radar.
Tags: auto bailouts, bailouts, Barack Obama, general motors, gm
