That pesky little appeal to the Supreme Court on behalf of disenfranchised parties in the Chrysler bankruptcy turns out to have been just a minor bump in the road for the driver behind the wheel of Obama Motors International. There have been others. If he looked in the rear view mirror, poised on cruise control, he could see laid to waste an array of secured creditors, non-union workers, disenfranchised small business and taxpayers: just so much road kill. Forget them. Forget the rules of the road. Forget the laws of the land. Let’s roll.

Going forward, Mr. Obama insists that the automobile companies will not be interfered with by the government. In fact, he said, “The federal government will refrain from exercising its rights as a shareholder in all but the most fundamental corporate decisions.”

Let’s see, “fundamental” actually means something. By definition, it is an essential part of something, a basic or underlying factor. In the case of a private corporation, business, or even the new Chrysler or GM, that means corporate strategy, which is set at the top levels of the organization. That is, those in control. Management, which may, or may not be involved in setting strategy, is charged with the responsibility of carrying it out. So, despite the President’s reassurances to those who are increasingly alarmed by the slouching toward economic fascism, first in the financial industry, and now in automobile manufacturing, his statement fills the room with smoke.

This President is either ignorant of the meaning of the concepts he utters in his ubiquitous appearances on “free” media, or willfully disingenuous. Either way, he must sit up at night with a big smile on his face, marveling at how journalists continue to ignore the ambiguities in his public statements. I and many others do as well, though we are not smiling.

©Copyright 2009 Edward Podritske