I thought we were at least three years removed from a time when presidential candidates still criticized the auto industry bailout, but apparently I was mistaken.
During an appearance in New Hampshire on Friday, Marco Rubio (R-FL) said the government bailout of General Motors and Chrysler was a mistake.
He also delivered a word salad that isn't an actual alternative to the bailout.
RUBIO: "I don't think that was the right way to handle it, but certainly our auto industry is important. Again, it was a problematic approach that the federal government took to doing it. But at the end of the day our industry has to be globally competitive. One of the things that makes them globally competitive ... is having a workforce that can do the work and also having tax policies, regulatory policies that ensures that America continues to be a place where all industries thrive including the auto industry."
I don't believe it was his true intention, but Rubio appears to have said that our current regulatory policies are great. It makes American industry "globally competitive," he says, and that would undoubtedly be breaking news to his fellow Republican colleagues who want to deregulate everything.
Of course the American auto industry wouldn't exist anymore if not for actions taken by the Obama administration; actions that Rubio describes as "problematic."
I don't know why it surprises me that the GOP will run against the 2009 auto bailout in 2016. Obama Derangement Syndrome (ODS) is evidently incurable and insatiable. I'm starting to think the GOP will still be running against President Obama in 2024. 'Candidate X voted for the Obama bailout 15 years ago' they'll say.
