I can feel the pain of my home state of Michigan (and no, I’m not referring to the bitter cold temperatures we’re experiencing here along the Front Range).
The angst coming from the Motor City and its environs is palpable. One of the most poignant examples, at least from my perspective, relates to a scheduled weekend appearance by Kentucky’s U.S. Senator (and former Detroit Tigers pitcher) Jim Bunning. Detroit Free Press columnist Brian Dickerson ripped Bunning a new one after the Republican Senator voted against the UAW’s federal government bailout deal.
He may be losing his marbles, but U.S. senator and ex-Tiger pitching great Jim Bunning still has big brass cojones.
After all, most of the GOP senators conspiring to kill a House rescue package for Detroit’s auto companies wouldn’t have the guts to set foot in Michigan this week, much less hawk their autographs to beleaguered Michiganders at $55 a pop.
But Hall of Famer Bunning — a vocal opponent of the auto loans — will do both of those things Sunday when he journeys to the deepest heart of UAW country.
He’ll sign baseballs ($35), posters ($45) and jerseys or gloves ($55) from noon to 2 p.m. at the Gibraltar Trade Center in Taylor, then head over to Solidarity House to knock back a few cold ones with UAW President Ron Gettelfinger.
I’m kidding about the Gettelfinger part, of course; Bunning more likely will be wheels-up before the sun sets on Metro Airport. I just hope he has the good sense to make the round-trip to Taylor in a Detroit-manufactured vehicle — even if it does cheese off Toyota, whose largest American plant is in Bunning’s home state of Kentucky.
The next morning, Gibraltar Trade Center ownership ended up pulling the plug on the event. (Good thing Al Kaline, Alan Trammell, and Ernie Harwell aren’t in the Senate.)
Meanwhile, the rhetoric from Michigan has been ratcheted up. Apparently off the lofty clouds of Tuesdays with Morrie, Free Press columnist Mitch Albom scoffs at Republican Senators: “Kill the car, kill the country”. (I’m guessing Mitch McConnell and other Republican Senators who voted against the UAW bailout don’t qualify for this list, either.)
And it’s seeped up into high office, too, as the economically inept Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm has called the failure to pass the UAW’s bailout demands as “un-American”. Visions of McCarthy-like hearings in a Lansing committee room came dancing through my head. But hearings like these are much more of a Canadian thing, the land of Granholm’s birth.
Very few, if any, Michigan writers seem willing even to raise the possibility that the UAW might be slightly responsible for the trouble at hand, or even to express an interest in why taxpayers may be sick at the thought of bailing out more failed companies. On the other hand, who can blame the likes of Dickerson, Albom, and Gov. Granholm, when it hits so painfully close to home? For one thing, the passage of the initial financial bailout packages provide a powerful contrast and provoke cries of hypocrisy.
Which Republicans (and Democrats, if there are any) have had the temerity to vote against any and all sweeping government takeovers? They are the ones to be admired.
But the Detroit Free Press might be happy to applaud Colorado’s own Ken Salazar for his bailout vote — the rest of us will wish him well running the Interior Department, where (if he indeed gets the job) he won’t be able to vote for any more bailouts.
Since I never back a challenge, and the fact I am from michigan, i step forward. I completly think the UAW has a big part in why the big 3 are crashing. Who so you know makes $75 an hour after benefits? Plus, who do you know has a full retirement package? Here in michigan, only congress men, and line workers. It is unfair to all of us. I do not think the government should bail out the industry either. I think the CEO’S and the UAW need to cut loose some perks, and start thinking about what they have done to everyone. I think that if the gov. insists on helping they should take all the vacant factories, buy them for a very small cost, or seize them from the companies for back taxes, and create jobs. Jobs that will benefit everyone, even our grandchildren. Make them into recycling plants, and start saving the environment. let the big 3 figure it out for themselves, and let the UAW be to blame for all the lost jobs b/c of greed.
I would like to briefly comment about your last remark about Ken Salazar. I find it odd that Salazar would take the job at DOI in preference to the senate seat.
Much to his credit, Salazar has leveraged his position in the senate fairly adeptly. He has become a major mover since joining the gang of 14 and other swing measures. The way I see it, Salazar seems to be poised to be another Hart in senate, if he were to stay. (I personally do not like Salazar’s politics and would rather see a Republican represent Colorado, but I still note his political prowess.)
In contrast, DOI is not particularly liked or respected among the alphabet soup of cabinet officers– either politically or in the courts. The EPA administrator is seen as the major force in environmental policy. While an Obama administration would be more friendly to environmental issues, the appointment is not exactly the prestige of the AG or a major policy adviser.
In effect, Salazar will move from being a major player in the higher house to a paper pusher whose decisions will either be ignored generally or reversed in the courts. I do not see how the appointment benefits him directly. True, he will be part of the “historic” administration, but only in a minor role.
When he leaves though, I hereby put in my bid for his seat…. I offer $15 and a YooHoo…