| (h/t lpackard) We've been hearing it for a few weeks now -- where goes Oakland County so goes Michigan; and where Michigan goes, so goes the presidential election. Today, with polls showing Obama pulling ahead by differing percentage points, that might be good news to the Obama folks. Here is the latest piece that says as such. Obama must understand also that as goes the automotive industry, so goes Michigan. How do voters feel about the candidates' auto-related policies? OffTheBus asked Peter M. De Lorenzo, author of The United States of Toyota and founder of Auto Extremist, the Internet magazine devoted to news and analysis of the car biz.
In a word, DeLorenzo -- whose site can be found here -- described both campaigns as "clueless," but said Obama sounds slightly better today. He also indirectly rips apart George Will's assertion that the Big Three can be allowed to fail without serious economic consequences ... not just for Michigan, but for the whole nation. This, by the way, is a pretty frightening prediction: I can tell you that the situation is precarious. There is no crying wolf, not by any stretch of the imagination. Chrysler will not survive past 2009 no matter what, because Cerberus Capital Management simply bit off more than they could chew. GM and Ford have eighteen months -- tops -- if they don't get things rolling again.
Emphasis mine. |
