×
Jon Cohn has a good post analyzing the details of the auto industry bailout that passed the House. He's basically positive on the bill, and in a provision that's close to my heart, he notes that the legislation "stipulates that the automakers have to drop lawsuits against states trying to impose stricter emissions standards." File that one away in the department of actually meaningful concessions. He also writes:
Under the proposal, the overseer would have power not only to command a staff and compel meetings of stakeholders, but also to set the benchmarks for the automakers' performance and ultimately to judge whether the automakers are meeting those benchmarks. In other words, if I'm reading this right, this administrator would have the authority to decide how we should judge the automakers' progress in restructuring--and then, as the effort proceeds, to make those judgments on his or her own.That's a lot of power to put in the hands of a to-be-determined Bush appointee. Unless there's been some backroom agreement on who he'll appoint, it's not clear to me why the Democrats are leaving this open. But surveying the situation, one rather obvious candidate would be Mitt Romney. Michigan roots, a professional background in salvaging failing companies, and a political incentive to succeed. Probable too risky of a gig for him to take, but if he succeeded, the payoff could be huge.
