Posted by Erick Erickson
Monday, September 19th at 4:45AM EDT
Many people call it Government Motors these days. General Motors has been a government slush fund to reward unions and other Democratic loyalists since the Obama Administration arrived in Washington. Now there are signs the Obama campaign and DNC intend to use GM to distract from Solyndra.
If you’ll 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 (A) General Motors had not actually paid back its loans and (B) 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 GM’s 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 we’re beginning to see in the wake of yesterday’s 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 Obama’s secret weapon.
In fact, as Obama’s 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 GM’s successes. It may just be the only corporation in America the White House cares about these days.
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