President Barack Obama last night signalled the US government would not let the domestic auto industry wither away in his first address to a joint session of Congress but was critical nonetheless.
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He sought to strike a delicate balance between hope and reality on Tuesday to reassure Americans mired in economic crisis that they would survive a “day of reckoning”, Reuters reported.
“While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken, though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover,” Obama said in a televised speech.
Nonetheless, he said that, while he supports making automakers more competitive, the government would not protect them from their own bad decision-making.
He scolded the domestic carmakers for “years of bad decision making,” but said (somewhat inaccurately) “the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it”, the Detroit News noted.
And he offered no details as to how he would help the industry restructure, and no promise to grant the billions of dollars in new aid that General Motors and Chrysler seek.
Michigan lawmakers told the paper they had expected some criticism but thought the speech suggested the new president was broadly supportive of the domestic automakers.
