American Heroes: Auto Workers - 2012 Democratic National Convention Video

In Mitt Romney's world "Cars get the Elevator, and Workers get the shaft" (VIDEO)

Yeah, we know what you're sayin'.

An Economy Built to Last: Auto Industry - 2012 Democratic National Convention Video

"Succeed" Obama for America Ad (VIDEO)

Mitt Romney Versus Reality: Auto Recovery Edition (VIDEO)

Oh, and did I mention?? (via Bloomberg):

During an election-year clash over which U.S. political party has the best prescription for curing unemployment, Democrats can argue that almost two-thirds of private-sector job growth in the past five decades came with them in the White House.

The BGOV Barometer shows that since Democrat John F. Kennedy took office in January 1961, non-government payrolls in the U.S. swelled by almost 42 million jobs under Democrats, compared with 24 million for Republican presidents, according to Labor Department figures.

Democrats hold the edge though they occupied the Oval Office for 23 years since Kennedy’s inauguration, compared with 28 for the Republicans. Through April, Democratic presidents accounted for an average of 150,000 additional private-sector paychecks per month over that period, more than double the 71,000 average for Republicans.

The President speaks in front of the UAW, and gives a BARNBURNER!! (VIDEO)

Oohhhh, YEAH!!

Did Clint Eastwood just make a campaign ad for the President? (VIDEO)

First off, brilliant ad. But then Chrysler has been making brilliant stuff since their comeback.



Jamelle Bouie from the American Prospect:

[A]s befitting a car commercial, is that it focuses on the revitalization of Detroit as a template for pushing the country forward. This echoes language the president used in his State of the Union last month:

Chrysler has grown faster in the U.S. than any major car company. Ford is investing billions in U.S. plants and factories. And together, the entire industry added nearly 160,000 jobs.

We bet on American workers. We bet on American ingenuity. And tonight, the American auto industry is back.

Not only should you expect to hear more like this as the year continues, but don’t be surprised if the Obama campaign’s positive advertisements look and sound a lot like Chrysler’s.

President Obama's super-quick statement at the Washington Auto Show (VIDEO)

"That's exactly what I said. Let Detroit go Bankrupt..." (VIDEO)

"We’re going to see if congressional Republicans will put country before party.." (VIDEO)

The President always fires a warning shot before he gives a big speech. Here it is:

The Fireside Chat for June 4th, 2011 (VIDEO)

Speaking from a Chrysler plant in Toledo, Ohio, the President commends the work of America's dedicated autoworkers, who have helped reinvigorate the domestic auto industry.

Mitt Romney. The very model of consistency... (VIDEO)

The Fireside Chat for May 28th, 2011 (VIDEO)

Substituting for the President is...let's see...a Joseph Biden of Delaware.

We're back, baby! 4000 Jobs in the Detroit area makes the CBS Evening News (VIDEO)

I know, we're not back all the way. But 4000 jobs means 4000 consumers. That means 4000 Consumers who can go to the Grocery Store, where the employees at the Grocery Store can make some money. Where the inventory of that Grocery Store is emptied, but refilled by even more workers. Truck Drivers moving the inventory. Bakers and Famers making the inventory. And hopefully, through it all, all these people have enough money to get themselves a new car...hopefully made at the same plant that started it all.

I know it's not going like we want...but it's going.

Mitt Romney: "Let Detroit go Bankrupt" (VIDEO)

In any other world, a person like Mitt Romney would like to have this one back.  Instead, in today's Republican party, he's going to double-down on the notion.

But lest you forget:

Stephen Colbert's Interview with "Car Czar" Steve Rattner (VIDEO)

If you're looking for an in-depth interview on the GM Bailout, I'd suggest Mr. Rattner's book: Overhaul. But as far as an overview goes, especially on the consequences of inaction, this did a great job.

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Steven Rattner
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election March to Keep Fear Alive

The President's Speech at a Chicago Ford Plant on the re-born Auto Industry (VIDEO)

"Spend my birthday with some good friends..." (VIDEO)

The most important story of the day (at least to l'il ol' me) the President's speech before the Executive Council of the AFL-CIO:



The complete text of the speech is here.

Similiar to the speech he gave in Michigan, and to a Democratic Fundraiser, but I liked it anyway:

Because as hard as it is out there right now for a lot of folks, as far as we’ve got to go, what’s clear is that our nation is headed in the right direction. Our economy is growing again instead of shrinking. We’re adding jobs in the private sector instead of losing them. America is moving forward.

And we’re moving forward largely without any help from the opposition party -- a party that has voted no on just about every turn. No on making college more affordable. No on clean energy jobs. No on broadband. No on high-speed rail. No on water and highway projects. That doesn’t stop them from showing up at the ribbon cuttings. It doesn’t stop them from sending out press releases. They’ve even said no to tax cuts for small businesses and 95 percent of working families. They just said no to a small business tax cut again just last week.

As we speak, they’ve been trying to block an emergency measure to save the jobs of police officers and firefighters and teachers and other critical public servants across the country who may be laid off because of state and local budget cuts.

And as if that was not enough, now they’re talking about repealing this and repealing that. I guess they want to go back to hidden credit card fees and mortgage penalties buried in the fine print. They want to go back to a system that allowed for taxpayer bailouts. They want to go back to allowing insurance companies to discriminate against people based on preexisting conditions. They would repeal the tax cuts for small businesses that provide health care for their employees. They want to go backwards; we want to move America forward.

And that’s what the choice is going to be in this upcoming election, and all your members need to understand it. I know if you’re talking to a lot of your locals, I’m sure they’re feeling like, boy, change is not happening fast enough; we are still hurting out here. They’re frustrated. They’ve got every right to be frustrated. And I am happy, as President of the United States, to take responsibility for making decisions now that are going to put us in a strong position down the road. And they need to know that, that we’re going to be working with you to make sure that we’re putting ourselves in a position where folks are working and working for a good wage and good benefits.

But you have to remind them for the next three months, this election is a choice. You’ve got these folks who drove America’s economy into a ditch, and for the last 20 months, we put on our boots and we got into the mud and we’ve been shoving that car out of the ditch inch by inch, and they’ve been standing on the side the whole time watching, telling us, no, you’re not pushing hard enough, you’re not doing it the right way -- not lifting a finger to help. And now we’ve finally got that car up on the blacktop there, about to drive, and they say they want the keys back. Well, you can’t have the keys, because you don’t know how to drive. You don’t know how to drive. You’re not going to get the keys back. You’re not going to get them back.

Somebody pointed out to me that when you’re in a car and you want to go forward, you put it in “D.” You want to go back in the ditch, you put it on “R.” So I just want everybody to think about that.

Also, there was this story:

Now, just a few weeks before I visited that auto plant, 14 of its employees won the lottery. This is a true story. Now you’d think they would have decided to retire, cash out, walk away. But most of them didn’t. They’re staying on their jobs. And the guy who bought the ticket -- was a guy named William Shanteau -- took the money and he bought his wife one of the Jeep Cherokees that they make at the plant. And then he bought a bunch of American flags for his hometown, because he loves his country, just like he loves the company that he works for and the workers that he works with and the union that represents him.

And he’s going to keep on showing up every day because he loves that plant, he loves his coworkers, and he loves the idea of making something right here in the United States that’s worth something. He loves the idea of being productive and creating something of value for people.

That’s the true character of our people. That’s been the essence of the AFL-CIO. That’s why even in these difficult times, I remain confident about our future, because of people like that, because of the workers that I meet all across this country, members of your unions who get up every morning and put in a hard day’s work to build a company, build a future, support their families.

The Fireside chat for July 31, 2010 (VIDEO)

More framing for 2010. Keep it up, Mr. President...



President Obama praises the successes of the auto industry restructuring as good news for our economy, and calls on Republican leaders in the Senate to "stop holding America’s small businesses hostage to politics" by blocking a vote to help them create jobs.

The President's speech on the Auto Bailout: July 30, 2010 (VIDEO)

Steve Pearlstein, in a piece blasting the Chamber of Commerce over their opposition to the GM bailout:

The irony is that this set of bold government initiatives that saved the country from economic catastrophe remain as unpopular today as when they were introduced.

Perhaps none was more controversial than the decision to rescue Chrysler and General Motors, using $86 billion in taxpayer funds and an expedited bankruptcy process that wiped out shareholders, brought in new executives and directors, forced creditors to take a financial haircut, closed dealerships and factories and imposed painful cuts in wages and benefits on unionized workers. It was an extraordinary and heavy-handed government intervention into the market economy that left the Treasury owning a majority of both companies. As one participant recalls, public opinion was divided among those who believed that the companies should have been allowed to die, those who believed they would never survive bankruptcy and those who believed the government would inevitably screw things up. Among the most vocal skeptics: the Chamber's Donohue.

A year later, the auto bailout is an unqualified success. The government used its leverage to force the companies to make the painful changes they should have made years before, and then backed off and let the companies run themselves without any noticeable interference.

The results, which President Obama will tout on a visit to Michigan on Friday: For the first time since 2004, GM and Chrysler, along with Ford, all reported operating profits in their U.S. businesses last quarter. The domestic auto industry added 55,000 jobs last year, ending a decade-long string of declines. Auto sector exports are up 57 percent so far this year and, thanks largely to new government regulations, the industry is moving quickly to introduce more fuel-efficient vehicles. Most surprising of all, GM and Chrysler have already repaid more than $8 billion in government loans, while GM is preparing for an initial stock offering later this year that would allow the government to recoup most, if not all, of its investment.

Greg Sargent, also of the Washington Post:

President Obama just delivered a rousing speech at an auto plant in Detroit, and it gave us a glimpse of how the fall elections could go for Dems if things start trending their way.

The tanking economy has left the public highly skeptical of Obama's larger goal of restoring faith in government as an effective agent for reform and a necessary corrective to the excesses of free enterprise. Indeed, a CNN poll out today finds that a whopping 61% thinks the government is doing too much that should be left to private individuals and businesses.

But today, Obama gets to claim that on one front, at least, he was absolutely right about the need for government intervention in the economy -- and that his critics were absolutely wrong. Last year, Republicans derided Obama's auto industry bailout as a dire threat to capitalism as we know it, but today, the auto industry is once again turning a profit and adding jobs in key communities.

And finally, Ezra Klein (what a coincidence!) of the Washington Post:

President Obama's remarks at various Michigan automobile plants today get to the heart of the task facing the administration as we enter the 2010 election. The White House doesn't lack for accomplishments. What it lacks is popular accomplishments.

The auto bailout is a perfect example. By and large, it worked. The automobile sector stabilized. GM, Chrysler and Ford are all posting profits. Millions of workers who would've gone down with the car companies still have their jobs. America retains an automotive industry that's both competitive in developing markets like China and starting to scrap with the Japanese and German automakers in the high-tech, green-car market.

But the policy wasn't popular. Few liked it. Some thought it socialism. Some thought it cronyism. Which presents, of course, a difficulty for the White House: Saving millions of jobs and the American auto industry at an ultimately very small cost to the taxpayer is the sort of major policy accomplishment you should be able to run for reelection on. But what if people don't really understand that you did it, or that it worked, or that it didn't cost them much?

Obama doesn't have to invent accomplishments for Democrats to tout in the 2010 election. Rather, he has to convince the public to also consider those policies accomplishments. You can read his Chrysler speech, which gives this a shot, here.  (See above)