It’s not hate, it’s something else
Michelle Maynard has a front-pager in the New York Times on the declining clout of Detroit: Thus far, much of the commentary in Washington, in the pages of major newspapers and on the Web, has been against providing financial support for the companies, which they will say they desperately need in hearings beginning on Tuesday. ...
Michelle Maynard has a front-pager in the New York Times on the declining clout of Detroit: Thus far, much of the commentary in Washington, in the pages of major newspapers and on the Web, has been against providing financial support for the companies, which they will say they desperately need in hearings beginning on Tuesday. The waves of criticism have been so strong that Susan Tompor, a columnist for The Detroit Free Press, was moved to write on Sunday’s front page: “I never knew Detroit was a dirty word.” It is a remarkable shift for an industry that has long wielded considerable clout in Washington. But that support has dwindled for many reasons, leaving backers of a bailout, including the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, having a tough time making their case that Detroit should be saved. So how did the famous 1953 quotation from the former General Motors president Charles E. Wilson — that what was good for our country was good for G.M., and vice versa — become a dated notion to so many people? Maynard provides a bunch of reasons that boil down to resentment at management's ineptitude and the UAW's cushy and bloated Job Bank system. Columnists are quoted saying the rest of America hates Detroit. I don't doubt that these factors play something of a role. But I do think there's a more basic trend at work -- domestic-based auto manufacturers simply employ far fewer people than in the past, while foreign-based auto manufacturers employ far more than in the past. As a result, Detroit commands far less political support than in the past. It's not hate -- it's that Detroit's Big Three, while still important, are not nearly as important as they used to be.
Michelle Maynard has a front-pager in the New York Times on the declining clout of Detroit:
Thus far, much of the commentary in Washington, in the pages of major newspapers and on the Web, has been against providing financial support for the companies, which they will say they desperately need in hearings beginning on Tuesday. The waves of criticism have been so strong that Susan Tompor, a columnist for The Detroit Free Press, was moved to write on Sunday’s front page: “I never knew Detroit was a dirty word.” It is a remarkable shift for an industry that has long wielded considerable clout in Washington. But that support has dwindled for many reasons, leaving backers of a bailout, including the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, having a tough time making their case that Detroit should be saved. So how did the famous 1953 quotation from the former General Motors president Charles E. Wilson — that what was good for our country was good for G.M., and vice versa — become a dated notion to so many people?
Maynard provides a bunch of reasons that boil down to resentment at management’s ineptitude and the UAW’s cushy and bloated Job Bank system. Columnists are quoted saying the rest of America hates Detroit. I don’t doubt that these factors play something of a role. But I do think there’s a more basic trend at work — domestic-based auto manufacturers simply employ far fewer people than in the past, while foreign-based auto manufacturers employ far more than in the past. As a result, Detroit commands far less political support than in the past. It’s not hate — it’s that Detroit’s Big Three, while still important, are not nearly as important as they used to be.
Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner
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