It must be something pathological: Republicans can’t say anything nice about anything Barack Obama did even if it has proven to be wildly successful.
Today’s example: Marco Rubio and the auto industry bailout.
Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio said Friday that the $85 billion auto bailout was not the “right way” to handle the troubled sector in 2008 and 2009.
At an appearance in Manchester, New Hampshire, the Florida senator said the rescue of General Motors Co. and then Chrysler Group LLC was not the right position for the federal government to take. “I don’t think that was the right way to handle it, but certainly our auto industry is important. Again, it was a problematic approach that the federal government took to doing it….”
And what would he have done? Well, he doesn’t say, although he restrained himself from echoing Mitt Romney and let Detroit go bankrupt, but neither does he say what would have been the “right way” to save a vital industry and several million jobs.
Would it kill his political career to say just once that a government policy worked? One could only hope.
This is the guy who improperly used his GOP credit card to buy groceries for his family and pay his auto repair bills. He’s not a scientist but he is a master economist.
Anyone remember what the Japanese government did when Mazda went belly up? They backed them up. Who else would have the money to back such a project? Only Repugs can downplay the federal government like it serves no purpose and it is nearly traitorous to say something good about Uncle Sam.
Perhaps that’s because Mazda builds cars, and not barbecues-on-wheels like the Chevy Vega or impromptu-Jersey-barriers like the Cobalt. I’m glad that GM and Chrysler survived – but I’d be a lot happier if they’d been more interested in producing a quality product beforehand.