Edward E. Whitacre, Barack Obama’s appointee to run General Motors, admitted to Bloomberg News Wednesday "I don’t know anything about cars." Upon taking over GM in March, Obama forced out then-CEO Rick Wagoner, credited by many for stabilizing losses and cutting costs but criticized by political and environmentalist groups for cutting back on the production of poor-selling hybrids to stem financial losses.
That isn’t doing much to instill confidence among some investors and analysts. CBS News reports telecom industry analyst Victor Schnee called Whitacre’s appointment "bizarre." Although Schnee admits that Whitacre has accomplished a great deal, he does not have much confidence in his ability to run GM better than previous management, according to CBS.
Whitacre’s White House appointment as GM CEO follows Obama’s announcement of Brian Deese as the White House’s new auto industry consultant. Deese, 31, is currently attending law school and has never been in an auto plant, but was a loyal Obama campaign staffer.
Wouldn’t it be a better idea to let people who know the auto industry run the auto industry and produce the kind of cars Americans like, instead of turning the industry into a politically-run exercise in producing politically-correct but poor-selling hybrid cars and keeping an important Democrat Party financier (the UAW) afloat with taxpayer funds?
