February 23rd 2009
Obama’s Car Team Doesn’t Buy American
M
ea culpa here: My car is German, my wife’s is British. But I’m not in government, and I’m certainly not on the Obama task force that will sit in judgment of the GM and Chrysler restructuring plans. And anyway, if I were buying a new car today, it would be a Cadillac CTS (if I let my automotive lusts run ahead of my economic sensitivities) or a Ford Fusion hybrid (if I did the opposite).
The Detroit News reports today that the Obama car team is, first, not prone to buying American – and that’s just the start of the problem.
Here’s the skivvy on their car choices:
- Co-Chair Timothy F. Geithner owns a 2008 Acura TSX.
- White House National Economic Council Director Lawrence Summers owns a 1995 Mazda Protege.
Office of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag owns a 2008 Honda Odyssey and a 2004 Volvo S60.- Carol Browner, the White House climate czar, own an automobile. Public records show she once owned a 1999 Saab 9-5 SE.
- Energy Secretary Steven Chu doesn’t own a car.
- Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson owns a 2008 Toyota Prius and a Honda Odyssey miniman. “It’s great,” she said of her Prius.
- Austan Goolsbee, staff director and chief economist for the White House Economic Recovery Advisory Board, owns a 2004 Toyota Highlander.
- Joan DeBoer, the chief of staff to LaHood, drives a 2008 Lexus RX 350.
- Heather Zichal, deputy director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change, owns a Volvo C30.
- Lisa Heinzerling, senior climate policy counsel to the head of the EPA, owns a 1998 Subaru Legacy Outback station wagon.
- Diana Farrell, the deputy National Economic Council director, doesn’t own a vehicle.
- Dan Utech, senior adviser to the Energy Secretary, owns a 2003 Mini Cooper S.
- Jared Bernstein, Vice President Joe Biden’s chief economist, owns a 2005 Honda Odyssey.
Buying American were (only) Gene Sperling, counsel to the Treasury Secretary, who owns a 2003 Lincoln LS; Edward B. Montgomery, senior adviser to the Labor Department, who owns a 1991 Harley-Davidson, and Rick Wade, a senior adviser at the Commerce Department, who owns a 1998 Chevrolet Cavalier.
Worse than their flag loyalty is their purchase choices – the lamest, most uninspiring cars out there, with the exception of the Acura TSX, the Mini Cooper S and the Harley. It is obvious that the people who hold the fate of GM and Chrysler in their hands are not car buffs, have no appreciation of anything other than utilitarian transportation, and do not suffer from one iota of automotive lust.
Sorry, but that’s the equivalent of putting know-nothings in charge of Obama’s economic policy. Oh.
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February 24th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
But some of those cars are American. The Honda Odyssey is built in Alabama, and I counted 3 of them in your list.Saab is/was owned by GM. Doesn’t that make it American? Especially the rebadged Chevy Trail Blazer. Volvo is owned by Ford. Doesn’t that make it American, too?The latest model Toyoata Highlanders are built in Indiana.I always buy Honda Accords – built in my home state of Ohio by Non-Union labor.
February 24th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
I’ll grant you the Odyssey and the Trailblazer, but not the Saab or the Volvo – no U.S. manufacturing jobs there. The main point of my piece though is the lackluster cars they drive. I would have liked to see more automotive afficianados in that group; maybe they’d protest GM’s proposal to kill the Cadillac “V” models.
March 6th, 2009 at 8:01 am
You have hit the nail on the head. Our leaders need to buy American. Consumers can save the auto industry a hell of alot faster than congress can. There is so much pent up demand because of fear and uncertainty of the automakers future it is pathetic. Used car prices are actually rising. All it would take is a spark to get people back in the showrooms, the stimulus may help, but watching our leaders go buy some American cars would be even better. It is about time they lead by example, instead of through BS partisan speaches. I wish Barack would set down the microphone long enough to go buy himself and Michelle a new American car, it’s an investment for him anyway, his used cars go for a million on ebay. 9 out of 10 Americans are still working, they need to get out and start spending some money before even more are out of work.
March 6th, 2009 at 8:02 am
I guess I didn’t figure out that line space thing.