President Obama -- the Face of GM?

This column by David Brooks of the New York Times got my juices flowing. Brooks' main premise is that President Obama has tread where he shouldn't get involved by forcing GM to restructure. I think Brooks is misreading Obama here. I think Obama's intention isn't to take over the car business. The federal government is loaning the car companies billions of dollars, and it has set itself up as an overseer of the car companies' demise. Bankruptcy may be the only way out, and Obama is trying to cushion the blow. Brooks takes the President to task for getting involved, but he really had no choice here. The ripple effect through the economy of the car companies' failures is still being felt, and the inevitable crash has to be mitigated somehow. A federal judge can parcel out people's livelihood against the obligations to creditors in bankruptcy court, or the American people can have a stake in the process through their elected representatives. I think Obama is making the best of a bad situation. Still, it didn't stop me from seeing this cartoon as funny.