Marcus Aurelius
07-24-2013, 12:25 PM
http://www.nationaljournal.com/columns/all-powers/remember-when-obama-said-detroit-was-coming-back-20130723
President Obama considers himself an excellent judge of his own speeches, something worth remembering in advance of Wednesday’s newest economic-policy address at Knox College (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-22/obama-to-deliver-economic-speech-in-return-trip-to-knox-college.html) in Galesburg, Ill.Well, he's not a very good judge of anything else.
Obama promises (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/22/remarks-president-ofa-event) Wednesday’s speech will also be “pretty good.” But in light of Detroit’s tragic bankruptcy filing, it is worth recalling his 2011 Labor Day speech. Its buoyancy and optimism, though well-intended, could make even the most ardent Obama devotee wince. Rereading it now might even provoke pity among his toughest critics.I pity the fool...
Detroit's fiscal nightmare has traveled in slow motion, like a vise being tightened one turn each year. Motor City's dreadful balance sheet, poverty, high crime rate, and blight of abandoned housing was in full view in 2009, when current Mayor Dave Bing (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/23/us/little-power-to-wield-for-detroits-mayor-during-bankruptcy.html) won election. Bing has no say in the bankruptcy matters and will not seek reelection, overwhelmed by his city's intractable woes (http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/detroit-by-the-numbers/2013/07/19/fa6a95d4-f09c-11e2-9008-61e94a7ea20d_gallery.html#photo=3).
But Obama's 2011 speech described a Detroit that can only be described as a myth wrapped in a wish inside a dream.
"This is a city that's been to heck and back," Obama said. "And while there are still a lot of challenges here, I see a city that's coming back."The President apparently lives in Fantasyland.
Obama referenced "tough choices" made to bail out GM and Fiat-Chrysler and also hailed the birth of a new wave of high-tech employment. "We said American workers could manufacture the best products in the world. So we invested in high-tech manufacturing and we invested in clean energy," he said. "And right now, there's an advanced-battery industry taking root here in Michigan that barely existed before."
The biggest factory in this supposed new trend, Massachusetts-based A123 Systems, had plans to employ 5,900 workers nationwide to build lithium-ion batteries. In Detroit, A123 Systems never employed more than 1,000. The Energy Department awarded A123 Systems a $249 million grant to boost production. It filed for bankruptcy (http://www.freep.com/article/20121116/NEWS06/121116060/A123-Systems-bankruptcy-U-S-Energy-Department-grants) in 2012 and was still receiving DOE largesse. A judge approved the bankruptcy (http://green.autoblog.com/2013/05/22/a123-systems-now-b456-wins-court-approval-to-exit-bankruptcy/) in 2013.
In other words, the Detroit-area advanced-battery industry Obama said "barely existed before" his 2011 speech now … barely exists.
Called it.
"We're teaming up with everybody—mayors, local officials, you name it—boosting economic development, rebuilding your communities the best way," Obama said. "This is a city where the great American industry has come back to life and the industries of tomorrow are taking root."
The biggest accomplishment of this program in Detroit is the demolition of a public housing project. There are also hopes, diminished by the bankruptcy proceedings, of building a $100 million light-rail line. Other "accomplishments" include a "text my bus" system "to provide more reliable information on transportation schedules"—this in a city that has lost half its bus service since 2005 and where budget cuts have eliminated overnight service (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/detroit-bus-cuts-a-thousand-cuts_n_1647867.html?utm_hp_ref=detroit). (slowly shaking head)
The President has shown, and continues to show, a pathetic understanding of what was and still is actually happening in Detroit.
President Obama considers himself an excellent judge of his own speeches, something worth remembering in advance of Wednesday’s newest economic-policy address at Knox College (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-22/obama-to-deliver-economic-speech-in-return-trip-to-knox-college.html) in Galesburg, Ill.Well, he's not a very good judge of anything else.
Obama promises (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/07/22/remarks-president-ofa-event) Wednesday’s speech will also be “pretty good.” But in light of Detroit’s tragic bankruptcy filing, it is worth recalling his 2011 Labor Day speech. Its buoyancy and optimism, though well-intended, could make even the most ardent Obama devotee wince. Rereading it now might even provoke pity among his toughest critics.I pity the fool...
Detroit's fiscal nightmare has traveled in slow motion, like a vise being tightened one turn each year. Motor City's dreadful balance sheet, poverty, high crime rate, and blight of abandoned housing was in full view in 2009, when current Mayor Dave Bing (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/23/us/little-power-to-wield-for-detroits-mayor-during-bankruptcy.html) won election. Bing has no say in the bankruptcy matters and will not seek reelection, overwhelmed by his city's intractable woes (http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/detroit-by-the-numbers/2013/07/19/fa6a95d4-f09c-11e2-9008-61e94a7ea20d_gallery.html#photo=3).
But Obama's 2011 speech described a Detroit that can only be described as a myth wrapped in a wish inside a dream.
"This is a city that's been to heck and back," Obama said. "And while there are still a lot of challenges here, I see a city that's coming back."The President apparently lives in Fantasyland.
Obama referenced "tough choices" made to bail out GM and Fiat-Chrysler and also hailed the birth of a new wave of high-tech employment. "We said American workers could manufacture the best products in the world. So we invested in high-tech manufacturing and we invested in clean energy," he said. "And right now, there's an advanced-battery industry taking root here in Michigan that barely existed before."
The biggest factory in this supposed new trend, Massachusetts-based A123 Systems, had plans to employ 5,900 workers nationwide to build lithium-ion batteries. In Detroit, A123 Systems never employed more than 1,000. The Energy Department awarded A123 Systems a $249 million grant to boost production. It filed for bankruptcy (http://www.freep.com/article/20121116/NEWS06/121116060/A123-Systems-bankruptcy-U-S-Energy-Department-grants) in 2012 and was still receiving DOE largesse. A judge approved the bankruptcy (http://green.autoblog.com/2013/05/22/a123-systems-now-b456-wins-court-approval-to-exit-bankruptcy/) in 2013.
In other words, the Detroit-area advanced-battery industry Obama said "barely existed before" his 2011 speech now … barely exists.
Called it.
"We're teaming up with everybody—mayors, local officials, you name it—boosting economic development, rebuilding your communities the best way," Obama said. "This is a city where the great American industry has come back to life and the industries of tomorrow are taking root."
The biggest accomplishment of this program in Detroit is the demolition of a public housing project. There are also hopes, diminished by the bankruptcy proceedings, of building a $100 million light-rail line. Other "accomplishments" include a "text my bus" system "to provide more reliable information on transportation schedules"—this in a city that has lost half its bus service since 2005 and where budget cuts have eliminated overnight service (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/16/detroit-bus-cuts-a-thousand-cuts_n_1647867.html?utm_hp_ref=detroit). (slowly shaking head)
The President has shown, and continues to show, a pathetic understanding of what was and still is actually happening in Detroit.