It has been a couple hundred years since we last had a Renaissance man as president. But now we have someone who not only can run a successful election campaign, but whose uncanny eye for tax evaders to run his administration is not in the least diminished by his ability to simultaneously run a multinational manufacturing conglomerate and fill out his NCAA men’s basketball bracket.
It’s not all roses and sunshine, of course. There is a lot of whining about the way he’s taken over an automotive manufacturing company. But the chronic naysayers overlook the fact that this isn’t the first time a government has run a car company. Think of vehicles like the Lada Oka for the proletariat and the Volga GAZ for the nomenklatura. Those were not the products of free-market capitalism.
And despite their occasional defects those vehicles had a huge social benefit: No TV advertising. No Howie Long interrupting the NCAA basketball games to make fun of Ford’s “man-step” and of truck owners who wear dorky clothes.
True, when you see Howie Long doing his sales pitches, you now are watching your tax dollars at work. But certainly the same president who decided the bailout recipients should give back their bonuses is going to make sure that government-subsidized shills on TV should give back, too, won’t he? Why should that money go to celebrities and advertising executivies, when it could instead go straight into UAW wages and UAW campaign contributions? The same president who decided Rick Wagoner needed to step down will certainly be able to get Howie to shut up before the Final Four starts this weekend. Like I said, a huge social benefit.