Obama Defends His Car Company

Jillian Bandes | February 17, 2010 11:57 AM

My story talks about some of the blame-Bush rhetoric that's been a common refrain among those trying to explain Toyota recall issue. But there's a deeper issue at play

-- why is the recall being issued now, after sudden acceleration complaints have been around for years? And why is the recall receiving so much attention -- even receiving unprecedented Congressional hearings?

The answers, according to reports out today, are simple. Four of the five Toyota manufacturing plants are in red states, and Toyota is the least-union-friendly car company in America. Toyota is highly profitable. GM operates at a loss. Toyota is a Japanese company, that didn't receive a nickle of bailout money. GM received more money than it could ever hope to pay back.

Trial attorneys are now lining up like sharks to see who can get the most money out of Toyota owners who crashed due to questionable "sudden acceleration incidents." Their clients stand to make even more money if it can be proved that Toyota knew about the safety issues before they did anything about them. The congressional hearings promise to sic even more penalties on the company.

How fair can those hearings be, if Obama's own domestic car company stands to untold amounts from the downfall of Toyota, the world's largest and most profitable car company? I'll hazard a guess: not very.