Strickland Makes Right Call on Importance of Auto Industry Supply Chain

Yesterday, Gov. Ted Strickland looked great and sounded all the right themes on CBS’ Face the Nation.  Of all the governors on the panel, he was the only one to say anything remotely newsworthy.  In Ohio and Michigan we understand the U.S. auto manufacturing is not only the Big Three, it’s the quarter of a million Americans working making parts and supplies for GM, Ford and Chrysler.  In Ohio, the number of people employed in the auto parts industry alone is over 97,000. (MEMA)

In answering questions regarding what are the largest problems in Ohio, Strickland told CBS’ Bob Schieffer that unemployment and foreclosures were huge issues, and continued about the importance of the auto industry – domestically and foreign-owned:

SCHIEFFER: What if one of the auto companies goes under?  How will that impact out in your state?

STRICKLAND: Hugely — hugely. And it will not only impact the Big Three; it will impact all auto
companies, including Honda and Toyota and all the others, because they have the same supply network.
And this supply chain is very fragile, and if it starts to collapse, it could have a cascading effect that could, quite frankly, cripple an industry that has been so vital to the economy of our entire nation for so long. So it’s very important that the auto industry get the help it needs to survive.

And I’ve had officials from the Honda corporation come to me, say to me, Governor, we’re not usually in
the business of advocating for our competitors, but it is so important that the auto industry and the Big
Three be preserved.

Otherwise, the economy of this country will suffer perhaps irreparable harm, and we just cannot let that
happen.

Governor Strickland’s fears are also dealt with by the Economist in the Feb. 19th edition.  In an article with the subhead, GM and Chrysler Say the Need Help, So Do Their Suppliers, the author says there are three large problems facing President Obama’s new U.S. Auto Industry Task Force, including, “The third is what help should be given to the car-parts industry, which receives far less attention than its famous customers, but which is facing acute problems of its own.”

One of the hallmarks of our current economic crisis is the constant unwinding of problem after problem.  Too many foreclosures turned into failed mortgage backed securities turned into uncapitalized credit default swaps.  In the case of the auto industry, failure of one or more of the Big Three turns into parts suppliers belly up turns into problems for the foreign-owned U.S. car plants.

DICK Cheney and State Sponsored Torture

VP DICK Cheney appeared on CBS’ Face the Nation this morning.  This interview wasn’t substantively different from any of the others he’s done in the past month:

Cheney also urged the Obama administration to continue the Bush administration’s interrogation policies.

“I would hope [Obama] would avoid doing what others have done in the past, which is letting the campaign rhetoric guide his judgment in this absolutely crucial area,” Cheney said. “We were very careful, we did everything by the book, and in fact we produced very significant results.”

So many problems with that statement, DICK.  There are a great many smart people, including former members of the Bush Administration who warned you and David Addington about getting too carried away with agressive interrogation techniques.  Chief among their concerns was something we patriots like to call the U.S. Constitution.  There’s also this other little concern known as the Geneva Convention.  You can argue all you want that our foes in the war on terror are not lawful combatants, but the rest of the world needs to somewhat agree, or, it looks like selective application of an international human rights treaty.  And, what about the old bromide that we’re not going to stoop to their level.  There’s so much more than campaign rhetoric behind the criticisms of the Bush Administration’s endorsement of torture.

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Video: Tom Friedman, Face the Nation | December 7

Video: Face the Nation – Senators Chris Dodd, Jeff Sessions – Will Auto Bailout Work? | December 7

Video: Obama’s National Security Team, Face the Nation, Woodward, Zakaria, Mayer, Dyson | November 30

The following 16 minute video is well worth watching – insightful talk with Bob Woodward, Fareed Zakaria, Jane Mayer and Michael Eric Dyson regarding President-elect Barack Obama’s announcement tomorrow unveiling his national security team.  One interesting comment from Woodward:

SCHIEFFER: …the president, if all goes as expected, at 10:50 Eastern time tomorrow will
announce his new national security team, to be headed by Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of
state.

Mr. WOODWARD: She never goes away, she and her husband. It’s an amazing national security team that Obama appears to have selected. It’s kind of like “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.”

You’ve got too cool, which might be–or at least appropriately cool, General Jones as the national security adviser; Gates is kind of just right, in the middle; and Hillary Clinton, hot. This is going to be a whole new center of gravity for the news media, for the whole world. My assessment without having any knowledge, really, is that the economists and the economic team around Obama convinced him that the economic crisis is so deep and going to require to much time, go ahead and give Hillary and Bill the world.

Yikes.  I’m not sure that’s what I voted for, Bob.

Video: Barack Obama on ‘Face the Nation’ September 28

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Transcript: Obama on ‘Face the Nation’, September 28

Click Here to View PDF of Full Transcript

Video: John McCain on ‘Face the Nation’ – September 7, 2008

Transcript: John McCain on ‘Face the Nation’ – September 7, 2008

Click Here for .pdf of Transcript