Mitt Romney’s hometown paper, the Boston Globe, continues to point out the presidential candidates slippery statements about the rescue of General Motors and Chrysler. In addition to the prior flip-flops that were prominently noted by the media, Globe columnist Joan Vennochi dug up a quote from April 29, 2009, when Romney criticized the revised GM rescue plan that was ultimately presented in bankruptcy court.
That revelation is especially interesting – and damning to Romney – because just two weeks ago the GOP frontrunner said the “managed bankruptcy” plan adhered to suggestions and so he deserves some credit for saving GM. That astoundingly arrogant assertion came in response to questions about the November 2008 Op-Ed column Romney wrote that was titled, “Let Detroit go bankrupt.”
The Globe column got me thinking about the 2008 campaign and the duel between Romney and John McCain over the auto industry and the Michigan economy. The remarks from the ’08 Michigan GOP primary contest, before the nation’s economy and the automakers went into free-fall, have largely been overlooked in the emerging 2012 campaign.
Here’s what I reported on Jan. 13, 2008, based on a McCain campaign rally in Warren:
“We’ll restore Michigan back to its preeminent place in America and in the world that it once held,” (McCain) said. “This … is the heartland of America and you cannot and will not be left behind.”
McCain and Republican rivals Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee are all stressing their solutions for Michigan’s lagging economy as they barnstorm the state in advance of Tuesday’s primary. Romney said Saturday that he would implement “far more substantial investment in research and technology in the automotive and energy-related sectors.” That kind of federal initiative, he said, would lift Michigan much like the NASA space program boosted Texas and Florida.
Romney has blasted McCain for accepting the idea that some of Michigan’s lost jobs are gone for good. But the Arizona senator repeated those “straight talk” remarks on Saturday.
A far more substantial federal investment in the Michigan economy? Wow. That sure doesn’t sound like the 2012 version of Mitt Romney. In retrospect, of course, McCain was right about those lost Michigan jobs and Romney was wrong. And it’s a reasonable to suggest that Romney’s claim that those jobs were coming back and that Michigan would achieve a preeminent place in America was just campaign rhetoric – not something he truly believed.
Here’s what I reported a day earlier, on Jan. 12, about Romney’s campaign rally, held at the Center for Alternative Fuels at Macomb Community College in Warren:
“As president, I will not rest until I see Michigan come out of this one-state recession and once again become a powerhouse economically in America and the world,” Romney told a small, low-key crowd of supporters at Macomb Community College in Warren.
With Tuesday’s primary fast approaching, Romney used his MCC speech to take a shot at Republican rival John McCain, criticizing him for saying earlier this week that many of the jobs that have left Michigan won’t come back.
“I’m not willing to accept defeat like that,” said Romney, a West Bloomfield native whose late father, George, served as Michigan governor from 1963-69.
Nine months later, Romney was very publicly advocating that the Bush administration should let GM and Chrysler collapse, which would plunged our state into its own great depression.
In her Globe column, Vennochi said that “the selling of this presidential candidate as a man of conviction runs into trouble in Michigan,” where the Romney name remains strong.
“In the run-up to Michigan’s GOP primary in January 2008,” she wrote, “Romney blasted rival John McCain as a pessimist who stood by and did nothing as the auto industry imploded. “Where is Washington?’’ Romney lamented. His pledge to fight for Detroit helped Romney beat McCain in that contest, although McCain ultimately became the GOP nominee.
“After Democrat Barack Obama won the White House, Romney started blasting Washington for standing ready to assist a beleaguered Motor City. “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt’’ was the infamous headline over Romney’s Op-Ed on Nov. 19, 2008, in The New York Times. A close re-reading showcases his penchant for staking out many positions.
“’Detroit needs a turn-around, not a check,’’ Romney begins. But then, as he calls for new labor agreements and new management, he also notes, ‘It is not wrong to ask for government help, but the automakers should come up with a win-win proposition.’ Finally, he recommends a ‘managed bankruptcy,’’ with the federal government providing guarantees for post-bankruptcy financing.
“Detroit did not get the blank check it preferred. But instead of praising President Obama for holding the line, Romney continued as chief critic. Writing for the National Review on April 29, 2009, he said that the General Motors proposal that addressed the Obama administration’s concerns, and became the foundation for the ultimate agreement, was ‘even worse than bankruptcy — it would make GM the living dead.’’’
The Living Dead? Ultimately, doesn’t that reflect Romney’s views at the time of the crisis, contrary to anything he says in this ’12 presidential campaign?
