PETERSON | Obama’s tough bailout

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Many famous people have made an example of others throughout history: David made one of Goliath, Julius Caesar of Vercingetorix, Stalin of Trotsky … the list goes on.

Lately, the Obama Administration feels an example should be made of those who run corporate America, and thankfully will do so in a much less violent way.

Seeing how poorly General Motors and Chrysler have been performing as well as how inadequately they have advanced their mission statements given to Congress three months ago, Obama has asked GM Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner to resign.

Obama didn’t order Wagoner to resign so much as he advised him strongly to step down, to show that keeping your word in this economy is more important than ever before.

There is discussion about possible mergers with other car companies.

A deal between Chrysler and Italian car maker Fiat is picking up steam; Chrysler has one month to decide whether to become a part of the European auto industry – it was once part of Daimler, which makes Mercedes-Benz, so it should know how this ritual goes – or to join the other great American car names that no longer exist, like the Edsel, Oldsmobile and quite likely Hummer soon.

How can Obama just go around telling the American car companies and their CEOs what to do? Like most American taxpayers, he believed and trusted that the Big Three of Detroit could pull through – although Ford apparently has done better than the rest of its Motor City counterparts.

However, the other two have essentially failed to convince anyone that their restructuring measures will get Chrysler and GM back into the game, and setting an example is the only other option left.

While I cannot bear to hear any more bad news about Michigan’s streak of misfortune than the rest of you, I can’t defend the helpless any longer, since the helpless, in this case, are incapable of helping themselves.

Whatever moves used to save Chrysler and GM should be used to save the auto workers at Chrysler and GM by putting them in other occupations that have greater demand for a domestic and global market that is desperate for new and innovative ideas.

The changing complexion of the U.S. economy has made one of the old standards of American economic might, the American automobile, look as decrepit and out-of-touch as the delusional executives who oversaw the lack of inspiration of their own product. The sport-utility vehicle heydays of the ’90s are a distant memory, and now the industry has to answer to those who believed in the viability of the GM/Chrysler product. Ford might still suffer the same fate, but time will tell.

Setting a good example, instead of being made an example, probably would have saved the rest of us the trouble.