Tales from the Trail

On Obama Day 101, it’s all about Chrysler.

Unless it’s about swine flu.

Efforts at a last-minute rescue deal for Chrysler appeared to be dead ahead of a midnight Thursday deadline, with holdout creditors resistant to a debt forgiveness agreement and bankruptcy looming despite President Barack Obama’s statements of optimism at a Wednesday night news conference.

An announcement from Obama was planned for noon Eastern, as the president kicks off his second 100 days with the first-ever bankruptcy filing by a Big Three U.S. automaker.

Vice President Joe Biden flooded the morning airwaves, supposedly to calm fears about a swine flu pandemic. He said he did not see the need to close the border with Mexico,  but said he would not be too crazy about his daughter taking a flight there at the moment.

“I would tell members of my family and I have, I would not go anywhere in confined places now. It’s not just going to Mexico. If you’re in a confined aircraft, when one person sneezes it goes all the way through the aircraft. That’s me,” he told NBC’s “Today” show.

“From my perspective, what it relates to is mitigation. if you’re out in the middle of a field and someone sneezes, that’s one thing. If you’re in a close aircraft or closed container or closed car or closed classroom it’s a different thing,” he said.

President Barack Obama gives his verdict on auto industry restructuring plans at 11 a.m.

Apparently GM and Chrysler, both seeking government money, did not pass with flying colors. White House forced GM chief Rick Wagoner out and wants Chrysler to work out a partnership with Italy’s Fiat — could that spawn a PT Cruiser Panda?

Lots of chatter on the ousting of Wagoner. Two main questions being raised — why was the White House tougher on automakers than bankers on this front and is it the proper role of government to depose the head of a private company?

For Detroit’s struggling automakers, the wait continues.

There will be no word on the fate of the struggling industry’s financial bailout at least until President George W. Bush is safely home later on Monday after ducking shoes in Iraq and visiting U.S. troops in Afghanistan, the White House says.
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Most analysts and observers are expecting White House action soon to help the carmakers after the Senate’s failure last week to approve a $14 billion bailout that could avert catastrophic failures and millions of job losses in a recession-wracked economy.

But White House spokesman Dana Perino said there was no timetable for a decision.

Republicans in Congress effectively said good riddance to President George W. Bush this week, handing their unpopular leader a last big defeat by rejecting a $14 billion auto industry bailout the White House negotiated with Democrats.
 
“No one cares what the White House thinks,” scoffed a senior Republican leadership aide.
 
With Democrat Barack Obama set to replace Bush as president on Jan. 20, the aide said: “There’s frustration among Republicans that Bush doesn’t have a feel for our positions, and relief that he’s leaving.”
 
With Bush at the head of the party the past eight years, the Republicans’ reputation for fiscal conservatism has been shredded by record federal deficits.
 
Republicans, seeking to restore that reputation, say market forces, not U.S. taxpayers, should decide the fate of the auto industry. They charge the bailout would be no more than a downpayment on failure.

 In addition, they argue automakers would be better off to reorganize under bankruptcy protection.

“I’m not surprised Republicans wouldn’t listen to Bush,” a Democratic aide said. “This really shows how weak the president is.”
 
“Republicans figured this was about their political skins and their political message,” the aide added. “But I don’t think they win anything out of this. They just put on a political show with people’s lives at stake.”
 
Bush further upset Republicans Friday when he yielded to mostly Democratic demands and signaled he was willing to provide aid to automakers through the $700 billion bailout he pushed through Congress to help Wall Street.
 
That rescue package generated plenty of voter backlash in the Nov. 4 election, particularly against Republicans.
 
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who had a tougher time winning re-election than initially anticipated, seemed among those happy to see Bush go.
 
“Our members, in one way, are kind of relieved by the departure of an administration that became unpopular and made it very difficult for us to compete,” McConnell said shortly after the election.