Does Mitt Romney even want to win? That's the question I begin asking myself after Mitt Romney decided to produce another column calling for the bankruptcy of Detroit.
Three years ago, in the midst of an economic crisis, a newly elected President Barack Obama stepped in with a bailout for the auto industry. The indisputable good news is that Chrysler and General Motors are still in business. The equally indisputable bad news is that all the defects in President Obama's management of the American economy are evident in what he did. [...]
My view at the time — and I set it out plainly in an op-ed in the New York Times — was that "the American auto industry is vital to our national interest as an employer and as a hub for manufacturing." Instead of a bailout, I favored "managed bankruptcy" as the way forward.
First of all, I would like to thank Mitt Romney for reminding Detroit and the rest of America that President Obama insisted on saving the auto-industry. I would also like to thank him for declaring it "indisputable" that Chrysler and Government General Motors are still in business. I'd also like to thank him for declaring that everything President Obama did can be seen in the current success of Detroit. And last but not least, I would also like to thank him for pointing a finger at his now-infamous New York Times op-ed "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."
As a Democrat, this is everything you would hope to see in a campaign for Democrats.
Now that that's out of the way -- what the fuck is he thinking?
"Managed bankruptcy" may sound rosy to a man like Mitt Romney whose former profession was bankrupting companies for profit, but to the layman, and to someone who works in the auto-industry, those are words they never want to hear. Especially not when the alternative, the bailout, was entirely successful.
And by the way, in what universe does it make sense to take this position after it has already been proven wrong when you're currently trailing Rick freaking Santorum in the polls? What sense does it make to essentially say "everything President Obama did worked, but here's why he's wrong?" Is this the one flop he won't flip?