(Larry Downing/Reuters)
The American auto industry had a good November, with Ford seeing a 13.3 percent gain, while "November sales for GM rose 7% from a year earlier to 180,402 vehicles, Autodata reported. Chrysler Group sales rose 44.5% to 107,172 vehicles." That creates a small problem for Mitt Romney. It's unlikely that Multiple Choice Mitt would himself have any problem with having
previously called the government's 2009 aid to auto companies "tragic," having predicted that "if you write a check, they are going to go out of business," and having called for the government to let American auto companies go bankrupt.
But while Romney is way too accustomed to changing his positions to even blink at this, his past statements do create something of a problem for Republican governors of auto-manufacturing states, like Ohio Gov. John Kasich:
Asked if he agreed with Romney's assertion that the automakers should have undergone a managed bankruptcy process instead of taking billions in bailout money from Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, Kasich punted.
"I just don't have any interest in even commenting on that," he said. "I am not going to talk about Mitt Romney. It's not important to me what he said or might have said."
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, meanwhile "has said that government invention helped save Chrysler and General Motors—and he warned GOP presidential candidates against criticizing the bailout." If Romney is the ultimate nominee, Snyder and Kasich are going to have an interesting task going to Michigan and Ohio voters and arguing that Romney has their best interests at heart. Maybe Kasich could try doing that at the Toledo Chrysler plant that's adding 1,100 new jobs.