The Washington Post has an online section devoted to correcting misstatements of President Obama. Two of the more recent entries about the auto industry are interesting and funny:
9:41 p.m.
"As for our auto industry, everyone recognizes that years of bad decision-making and a global recession have pushed our automakers to the brink. We should not, and will not, protect them from their own bad practices."
This is part of the story. The other part is trade barriers set up by foreign nations to limit the import of U.S. vehicles. South Korea, for instance, has until recently been a market largely closed to Detroit automakers, thanks to high tariffs, while Americans bought Hyundais and Kias by the thousands. --Frank Ahrens
"And I believe the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it."
It's doubtful that President Obama is referring here to Germany, home of Karl Friedrich Benz, inventor of the first true, four-wheel, gasoline-powered, internal-combustion-engine auto, or his contemporary, Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler, who did same. America -- Henry Ford -- invented mass production of the auto. --Frank Ahrens
Here is the link to the column:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2009/02/24/live_fact_check.html