Automaker bailout has costs and benefits for Romney, Santorum, Obama

By Charles Lane

As the Michigan primary approaches, claims and counterclaims about President Obama’s rescue of the U.S. auto industry fly. Whoever wins the Republican presidential nomination, we’ll be hearing more of this in the general election, since Obama plans to campaign claiming success. Amid the gusts of rhetoric, keep these realities in mind:

● The U.S. economy was falling off a cliff in the fourth quarter of 2008. No one knew how bad it could get. But it was clear that, if the car companies went bankrupt, they would need government financing to restructure and avoid liquidation. And no U.S. president would have stood by and allowed them to liquidate. Proof: Republican George W. Bush extended emergency loans to General Motors and Chrysler, keeping them alive until Obama’s term began.

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