GM CEO resigns — at Obama’s behest
posted at 6:18 pm on March 29, 2009 by Allahpundit
If you want taxpayer money, you’re going to have to do things The One’s way. And if you don’t want taxpayer money, TurboTax Tim might swoop in and make sure you do things The One’s way anyway.
The era of economic Hopenchange has officially begun.
Wagoner’s departure is one of the remarkable strings attached to a new aid package the administration plans to offer GM.
The White House confirmed Wagoner was leaving at the government’s behest after The Associated Press reported his immediate departure, without giving a reason…
Industry sources had said the White House planned very tough medicine, which turned out to be an understatement. And it went to the very top. The measures to be imposed by the government will have a dramatic effect on workers, unions, suppliers, retirees and the communities where plants are located, the sources said.
Oddly enough, when Rasmussen polled the public in December, only 14 percent thought a GM run by the feds would outperform a GM run by the private sector. Exit question: Ever get the feeling that Obama’s not quite the centrist pragmatist Christopher Buckley thought he’d be?
Blowback
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1,000 comments or bust!
Allahpundit on March 29, 2009 at 6:19 PM
I just found out I promised a big bonus if you resign- Ogabe
lasertex on March 29, 2009 at 6:20 PM
Well, my next car DEFINITELY won’t be made by GM.
crosspatch on March 29, 2009 at 6:21 PM
And thus, the final nail was driven into the coffin lid…
And the headstone read… Free Enterprise System…
Romeo13 on March 29, 2009 at 6:21 PM
Wonder how long till he asks for the union contracts to be changed?
/sarc.
Blarg the Destroyer on March 29, 2009 at 6:22 PM
Fascism!
TimeTraveler on March 29, 2009 at 6:22 PM
So, tomorrow Obama is going to give a pile of cash to a company without a CEO?
Or will the new CEO of Obama’s choosing be announced and then handed the pile of tax payer cash?
myrenovations on March 29, 2009 at 6:22 PM
Talk about paying the price for making a deal with the devil!
GM would have stood a better chance dealing with some of the local Detroit loan sharks. At least it would have been a fairer deal.
pilamaye on March 29, 2009 at 6:22 PM
CINC CEO will own it all soon.
PaCadle on March 29, 2009 at 6:22 PM
mankai on March 29, 2009 at 6:23 PM
I want to know who Obama thinks is going to buy these damn cars?
anniekc on March 29, 2009 at 6:23 PM
Great , GM needs more influence from the unions , the supreme peoples car will finally be made.
the_nile on March 29, 2009 at 6:23 PM
As a friend of mine elsewhere put it:
Vyce on March 29, 2009 at 6:24 PM
This is not good – methinks that O felt that the market had gone up too much and his “crisis” strategy was starting to wane. DOW drops big tomorrow – watch.
volnation on March 29, 2009 at 6:24 PM
Well it seems he has a lot of faith in this little guy, Geithner….
anniekc on March 29, 2009 at 6:24 PM
Chavez
tehd on March 29, 2009 at 6:24 PM
Wow. Just wow. Me thinks the new administration is just getting warmed up.
Ordinary1 on March 29, 2009 at 6:25 PM
I don’t see anything wrong with this. the government holds the largest stock in GM. In the “real capitalist” world majority stockholders determine who the CEO is.
nice343 on March 29, 2009 at 6:25 PM
Can we offer Obama money to quit?
capitalist piglet on March 29, 2009 at 6:25 PM
If part of the auto industry problem between last December and today is that the overall economy has buyers spooked, how is replacing Wagoner going to fix that?
myrenovations on March 29, 2009 at 6:25 PM
I’m not sure even The Won can figure out a way around this:
Somehow, I don’t think electric cars in reflective colors are the answer.
Quisp on March 29, 2009 at 6:25 PM
The silver lining here is that O has bitten off way more than he can handle. Might as well hand Congress to the Republicans in 2010 if this keeps up. Which may be why he’s moving so fast.
volnation on March 29, 2009 at 6:26 PM
I wonder about the implications for all those volunteer groups that were going to get money from the Kennedy-Hatch GIVE/SERVE bill.
Better to stick to bake sales and carwashes than take money from Obama.
Wethal on March 29, 2009 at 6:26 PM
“The brutes, private or public, who believe that they can rule their betters by force, will learn the lesson of what happens when brute force encounters mind and force.”–Ragnar Danneskjold(Atlas Shrugged)
“If my fellow men believe that the force of the combined tonnage of their muscles is a practical means to rule me-let them learn the outcome of a contest in which there’s nothing but brute force on one side, and force ruled by a mind, on the other.”–Ragnar Danneskjold(Atlas Shrugged)
We need to go Ragnar.
promachus on March 29, 2009 at 6:26 PM
This country is going to be completely unrecognizable in four years.
Change indeed.
World B. Free on March 29, 2009 at 6:26 PM
A sneak preview of his health care – he will start jailing doctors and closing hospitals. If you need your gallbladder out, do it now before you check into Cedars- Sinai and find yourself in a rusty iron bed in a ward of other 20 patients all hollering for the one night nurse.
Marcus on March 29, 2009 at 6:26 PM
how do we get obama to resign!?!?!?!?
reliapundit on March 29, 2009 at 6:26 PM
Anybody have a Yugo I can borrow? I want to get used to how it will be when the coming Obamobile is our only choice.
mankai on March 29, 2009 at 6:26 PM
I’m stunned. Absolutely stunned.
BardMan on March 29, 2009 at 6:26 PM
No
More
Words,
just speechless…..
CBarker on March 29, 2009 at 6:26 PM
America as we know it is totally f*cked.
CarolynM on March 29, 2009 at 6:26 PM
Hopefully we won’t be full socialist by 2012, but we’re running down that road fast & furiously!
God Save the Republic! (‘Cause we know the Republicans in congress don’t have the cojones to do it…)
gmoonster on March 29, 2009 at 6:27 PM
Well, maybe he can build me a car, but no way is Obama gonna take out my gallbladder. Who will be next?
bloggless on March 29, 2009 at 6:27 PM
What makes you think it will take that long? At this rate, four months ought to do it.
califcon on March 29, 2009 at 6:27 PM
Let the banks fail………..let GM fail…………let the market work……….Obama is a crook and people are very s l o w l y opening their eyes to just how horrid and dangerous this nit wit Prez is.
Cinday Blackburn on March 29, 2009 at 6:28 PM
I hope all the good people leave GM tomorrow, en mas.
TheBigOldDog on March 29, 2009 at 6:28 PM
Not content with re-enacting the New Deal, Obama is intent upon re-living the 1930s worldwide. This cannot end well.
Ted Torgerson on March 29, 2009 at 6:28 PM
To Brooks, Noonan, Frum, Barnes, Buckley, and all these elitist RINO fools, how about that centrism?!
We have a little Fidel in the White House.
jencab on March 29, 2009 at 6:28 PM
Awee how cute you were almost able to make a point.
Last time I checked, Obama is not on the board of directors at GM…yet.
Joe Caps on March 29, 2009 at 6:28 PM
I hope so… Oh, Lord, I hopes so.
mankai on March 29, 2009 at 6:28 PM
Yes… for in Socialist Americka, head Comrade will change the name of General Motors Corporation…
To General Motors Commisariate!
Romeo13 on March 29, 2009 at 6:29 PM
I don’t want any more change it it means chucking out the free market and the constitution!
gmoonster on March 29, 2009 at 6:29 PM
………… so it begins.
That’s easy, the government for his new National Community Organizer Force………..
………….. paid for, on our dime.
Seven Percent Solution on March 29, 2009 at 6:29 PM
I double dog dare this motherf–ker to keep this up and try to force out bank CEOs.
gsherin on March 29, 2009 at 6:29 PM
GM stock is garbage.
lasertex on March 29, 2009 at 6:29 PM
The same GM that run the company into the ground for decades should not be allowed to continue
nice343 on March 29, 2009 at 6:29 PM
when will the little red books be ready?
bloggless on March 29, 2009 at 6:29 PM
Yup. Watch the markets tank. Last week was a sucker’s rally and if you didn’t see it and didn’t pull out, then you’re a sucka. For obama.
Impeach.
Key West Reader on March 29, 2009 at 6:29 PM
This is soooooooooooo wrong. Whats next, the firing squad for CEO failures. Unacceptable.
mindhacker on March 29, 2009 at 6:29 PM
BTW, anybody who is truly surprised, just hasn’t been paying attention for at least the last 12 months or have lied to themselves to such as a degree to be of a major concern.
TheBigOldDog on March 29, 2009 at 6:29 PM
Somebody shoot me, please….
I’m not sure even I sould talk reasonably to this.
CBarker on March 29, 2009 at 6:30 PM
People, get angry. Smash chairs. Tear your hair. Start the protests. Take it to the MAN.
promachus on March 29, 2009 at 6:30 PM
Michelle Bachman made a really good point the other day- We have to keep melting the phones and fax in congress and the senate, every single day! To both parties. I think Barry hopes everyone continues to sit in stunned silence, but we can’t, we just can’t.
anniekc on March 29, 2009 at 6:30 PM
I agree. When I read the part of the story about a “competitive auto industry”, I had to laugh. The Board should have gotten rid of Wagoner long ago, but it actually wouldn’t have made any difference then, either.
Wagoner himself had an editorial in the Journal a few years ago where he laid out the actual issue, which is that the “baseline” compensation model for the unions was set back in the early post-WWII era when Detroit had no competition.
venividivici on March 29, 2009 at 6:31 PM
Won small step for the socialist , Won great leap forward for socialism.
the_nile on March 29, 2009 at 6:31 PM
Up next………
……… matching uniforms, patriotic songs, and forced community activism for all GM workers.
Seven Percent Solution on March 29, 2009 at 6:31 PM
Obama can not even do his own damn job, much less GM’s. So, does he get to pick the new guy too?
I have always bought GM. I have never bought a foreign car and my Dad always referred to Fords as found on the road dead.
But I am thinking I might buy Ford the next time I get a vehicle. This is just creeping me out.
Terrye on March 29, 2009 at 6:32 PM
Beck, if I am allowed his name in a positive way on Hot Air, was characterizing Obama’s tactics as mob-like even before this. I guess he made Wagoner an offer her couldn’t refuse.
fiatboomer on March 29, 2009 at 6:32 PM
Memo to Chysler CEO:
Tell President Obama to stick his bailout money where the sun don’t shine.
Knucklehead on March 29, 2009 at 6:32 PM
Buy Toyota! Best cars and trucks on the road.
ErinF on March 29, 2009 at 6:32 PM
Take your ignorance elsewhere. Try Cuba, you’ll feel quite at home.
Bad labor contracts (forced inefficiency) and government regulations had nothing to do with it?
Please.
tehd on March 29, 2009 at 6:32 PM
He’s not quitting. He’s shrugging.
JohnJ on March 29, 2009 at 6:33 PM
I’m going to make a documentary about the new guy running GM. It’s going to be called “Obama and Me”.
Mark1971 on March 29, 2009 at 6:33 PM
It makes no sense to give money to the same CEO who ran the company into the ground as ask him to restructure it
nice343 on March 29, 2009 at 6:33 PM
I heard some reports that pinned this on the GM bond holders- Wagoner could not get the concessions out of them required to make BO happy. Now that Wagoner is gone, Obama is now expecting those bond holders to do whatever he wants.
Now a question- if indeed this is true, what can Obama potentially do if the bond holders don’t give the government the concessions that it wants?
shibumi on March 29, 2009 at 6:33 PM
Where do you work? I want to write to the White House and suggest they takeover your company and start dictating policy.
They’re soon going to start telling you when, where and IF you’re allowed to see a doctor… I hope you enjoy your new “paradise.”
mankai on March 29, 2009 at 6:33 PM
Did Wagner wake up with a horse’s head in his bed or did he receive a package with a dead fish in it I wonder?
TheBigOldDog on March 29, 2009 at 6:33 PM
venividici:
Back then there were not so many people to support either and health care was not so high.
Terrye on March 29, 2009 at 6:33 PM
Can’t wait for GM to fail and the libs will say, “see? capitalism doesn’t work!”
Johnson on March 29, 2009 at 6:34 PM
You will….or else!
skatz51 on March 29, 2009 at 6:34 PM
In a “capitalist’ society you are rewarded based on performance not failure. So if Hotair readers claim to be capitalist, they will applaud this move
nice343 on March 29, 2009 at 6:34 PM
Oh and would someone please give Ford props for not eviscerating the taxpayers? I don’t love their cars, but they actually have a decent enough business model to weather storms like these. Now they’ll be at a huge disadvantage as the Dems hand cash to the idiots at GM & Chrysler.
fiatboomer on March 29, 2009 at 6:34 PM
……… fixed it for ‘ya Skippy!
Seven Percent Solution on March 29, 2009 at 6:34 PM
Just wait until about 2 weeks before Nov. 4, 2010. I predict martial law.
SouthernGent on March 29, 2009 at 6:34 PM
hmmmm, General Motors; dba Chairman Motors?
My longtime GM family will be looking at F-150′s soon.
CBarker on March 29, 2009 at 6:34 PM
shibumi:
Maybe they can file bankruptcy.
Terrye on March 29, 2009 at 6:34 PM
Yeah, way back in the summer of 2008.
Saltysam on March 29, 2009 at 6:34 PM
tehd on March 29, 2009 at 6:32 PM
save you breath in moron’s like this fantasy world they think the government can do no wrong. They probably think Bush’s deficits were horrible, but Obama’s trillion + ones are wonderful.
gsherin on March 29, 2009 at 6:35 PM
The joke is on, folks. How many believe he wants what’s best for America?
bloggless on March 29, 2009 at 6:35 PM
Reflective colors? Where do I sign!!
mankai on March 29, 2009 at 6:35 PM
He sure didn’t waste any time, did he?
Well, the good union members at GM now have an entity that can run their business as well as they run the VA. Have no fear – they’re from the government, and they’re here to help.
Nothing, with this f**kwit running the show, surprises me anymore.
av8tr on March 29, 2009 at 6:35 PM
He already got 11 Trillion and keeps the job..
lasertex on March 29, 2009 at 6:35 PM
It made no sense to GIVE THEM TAXPAYER MONEY!!! Do you honestly thing the government can do a better job?
califcon on March 29, 2009 at 6:35 PM
Poll Question: Obama’s “force-out” of GM CEO Rick Waggoner represents the most egregious exertion of Federal Government prerogative over American private enterprise since:
(a) S&L crisis
(b) AT&T breakup
(c) 70s railroad restructuring
(d) FDR’s ban of the production of civilian autos during WWII.
(e) ever
Robert_Paulson on March 29, 2009 at 6:35 PM
In a capitalist society, the market determines winners and losers, not governments. GM should have gone for Chapter 11.
Wethal on March 29, 2009 at 6:36 PM
Indeed. Why not applaud the President of the United States hiring and firing CEOs? What’s not to like? Look how well it worked out in the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, North Korea, etc.
TheBigOldDog on March 29, 2009 at 6:36 PM
There isn’t a CEO alive who can make GM and Chrysler profitable. The UAW has seen to that.
anniekc on March 29, 2009 at 6:36 PM
I did not support the auto bailout back in the fall.
I super-duper don’t support the continuation of it.
myrenovations on March 29, 2009 at 6:36 PM
I predict martial law.
So did the Dems, from Jan 2001 through Nov 2008.
gmoonster on March 29, 2009 at 6:36 PM
Your ignorance is showing. How do you get on a board without holding significant stocks/bonds in a company?
nice343 on March 29, 2009 at 6:37 PM
Perhaps this will clue-in anyone else who has a hand extended towards DC… as they put newly printed Chinese money into your out-stretched hand they handcuff you to the White House.
mankai on March 29, 2009 at 6:37 PM
I remember a time when a statement like this would have been laughed out of the room.
SouthernGent has a way with timing and delivery.
Saltysam on March 29, 2009 at 6:37 PM
Waiting for details, but, can this mean anything other than the U.S. Gov’t thinks it can run any business better than its current managers? I await Gettlefinger’s retirement announcement – as if.
Politically, from hear on out, Mr. Obama ownes the auto industry and its problems.
Tamaqua on March 29, 2009 at 6:37 PM
Just shake your head, but don’t lift the rock.
thomasaur on March 29, 2009 at 6:37 PM
GM ‘s new car, Mao Shocker and only comes in green.
lasertex on March 29, 2009 at 6:37 PM
in a capitalist society the gov’t doesnt butt in on businesses it knows nothing about.
chasdal on March 29, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Take a Business 101 class.
mankai on March 29, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Bet Ford is feeling really good about having dodged that bullet.
AZfederalist on March 29, 2009 at 6:38 PM
In a FREE society, the government does not step in and force out the CEO of a corporation.
Are you just plain stupid? Geeze.
Key West Reader on March 29, 2009 at 6:38 PM
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