By Erick Erickson
Many people call it Government Motors these days. Now
there are signs the Obama campaign and Democratic National Committee (DNC) intend to use GM to distract from Solyndra. General Motors has been a government slush fund to reward unions and other Democratic loyalists since the Obama Administration arrived in Washington.
If youll remember back in 2010 General Motors rushed out an ad campaign that claimed it had paid back all of its government loans before the November 2010 election. But a freedom of information act request filed by the Competitive Enterprise Institute found that:
- General Motors had not actually paid back its loans and
- had coordinated the ad campaign with the Obama Administration
According to CEI at the time
Documents released last week by the U.S. Treasury Department indicate that General Motors and the Obama administration coordinated their PR strategy regarding GMs much criticized 2010 ad campaign in which the car maker misleadingly claimed to have repaid all its government loans."
The advertisement campaign GM ran with included the Chevy Runs Deep" series of commercials portraying a feel good attitude toward GM and its essential American-ness".
Just
in time for the 2012 election season GM wants to rev back up that ad campaign as it did before the November 2010 elections.
You will not be surprised to learn that there is a series of coordinated efforts between the Obama Administration and General Motors.
On November 17 2010 General Motors released its IPO.
On November 19 2010 the DNC posted a white board video showing positive results that were beginning to see in the wake of yesterdays
successful IPO." The star was the then Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Austan Goolsbee.
On November 23 2010 in Kokomo IN the Washington Post reported A week after General Motors made a showy return to Wall Street President Obama highlighted the revival of the other bailed-out auto company during a trip to an Indiana transmission factory."
On April 12 2011 GM announced it would add 30 jobs at a facility in Rochester NY. The announcement came one month after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo called for a special election in NY-26 which just so happens to be the Rochester area. The election was held on May 24 2011.
On May 13 2011 the Politico reported the auto industry may be Obamas secret weapon.
In fact as Obamas campaign heated
up through 2011 the campaign team seemed intent on using General Motors as a success story to overshadow all bad news.
At a Virigina town hall
on April 21 2011 President Obama highlighted GM announcing they would hire back laid off workers.
On May 4 2011 GM announced 250 new jobs in Kentucky and brought in Democratic Governor Steve Beshear up for re-election to participate.
On May 10 2011 GM announced 250 jobs in the swing state of Toledo OH.
On May 13 2011 GM announced it had saved or created 96 jobs in Michigan a state now in serious play since the GOP took over the state in the November 2010 elections.
GM has in fact been hiring people and has in fact been hiring in swing states and oddly timing announcements that seemingly coincide with Administration talking points. At the same time the DNC and Congressional
Democrats have piled on with web videos of their own and high-profile stump speeches at GM plants.
As the Solyndra scandal heats up and it becomes clear the White House tried to help out a donor while pushing green jobs expect to hear more and more about GMs successes.
It may just be the only corporation in America the White House cares about these days.
