| No, no -- I'm serious. It's perfect. GM needs new management; Romney's free; he's a turnaround guy; he's from Detroit; his dad ran a car company; he's already got a national profile, which would really help GM; he's already filthy rich, so he could take the job for a pittance. It's totally perfect.
Plus, it's a brilliant political move for him. High risk, sure -- but if he can pull it off, what a feather in his cap. His political career needs a turnaround of its own, and nothing would be better than jump-starting GM. (Ha! Get it? Jump-starting?)
The current management of GM is surely not long for the job. After today's debacle over the corporate jets (seriously -- did you hear about this? these idiots flew their corporate jets from Detroit to DC to beg for a bailout), there's no way this Wagoner dude is going to hang on.
What do you say, Mitt? Put your money and your effort where your mouth is. If the job opens up (which it surely will, one way or another -- there eventually will be some sort of federal aid, and one of the conditions will almost surely be to force out current management), step up and save the industry you grew up in, and that you say you love. Wouldn't it be nice to have the whole country rooting for you, for a change?
UPDATE (Friday morning): I was thinking over breakfast about another aspect of this, which I see that several commenters have noted: would Romney take the chairmanship of GM as an opportunity to bust the U.A.W., or at least to needlessly slash jobs? Actually, I don't think he would. Why? Because if (as seems very likely) he wants to run for president in 2012, he must have Michigan, certainly in the primary, and probably in the general as well. If he is too brutal in restructuring, it will end his presidential chances. So this is actually another reason it's a good fit -- his own ambition will serve as a check against going too far with job destruction. |
