Although Republicans portray it as yet another example of Obama's socialist tendencies, his GM plan reveals him to be deeply conservative. He can imagine a world in which the internal-combustion engine is obsolete but not one in which GM is.

"We cannot, and must not, and we will not let our auto industry simply vanish," Obama declared in March. "This industry is like no other; it's an emblem of the American spirit, a once and future symbol of America's success." On Monday, he said GM, "this iconic American company," must be given "a chance to rise again."

But Obama offers more than blind nostalgia to justify sinking $50 billion of taxpayer money into a company that is failing, by his own account, because of "bad business decisions." He offers jingoism, too. Obama says he is "absolutely committed" to "one goal: The United States of America will lead the world in building the next generation of clean cars." If those sneaky foreigners think they're going to build non-polluting vehicles and sell them to Americans at reasonable prices, they'd better think again.

It's not clear what Obama plans to do if it turns out that "building the next generation of clean cars" is not the best way for GM to "rise again" -- say, because such cars cannot be produced anytime soon at a price consumers are willing to pay. Obama's decree that "GM will start building a larger share of its cars here at home" also may undermine the company's bottom line (and therefore taxpayers' return on their involuntary "investment") by increasing production costs.

"The federal government will refrain from exercising its rights as a shareholder in all but the most fundamental corporate decisions," Obama promised. "When a difficult decision has to be made on matters like where to open a new plant or what type of new car to make, the new GM, not the United States government, will make that decision."

As long as the decision does not involve opening a plant in the U.S. versus another country, hiring union versus nonunion workers, building SUVs versus smaller, more fuel-efficient cars, or sticking with conventional cars instead of gambling on "the next generation of clean cars." After they see how Obama handles these and other corporate decisions, Americans may start to wonder whether a guy who claims to have no interest in running GM is the best candidate for the job.