<p>Steven Rattner, a former New York Times reporter whose short tenure as Obama's so-called car czar "came under a cloud in April when details of alleged influence-peddling surfaced," announced his resignation yesterday, the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/13/AR200907... target="_blank">Washington Post's Peter Whoriskey and Tomoeh Murakami Tse</a> reported today.</p><p>Yet despite President Obama's penchant for naming numerous <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE54S5U120090529" target="_blank">policy czars</a>, news of the resignation was shuffled off to page A11 rather than trumpeted on the front page. Curiously, the Post did find space below the fold on page A1 for a story that basically boils down to how the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/13/AR200907... target="_blank">stress of being U.S. Attorney General</a> is wearing on Eric Holder. </p><p>What's more, the Rattner story itself is front-loaded with praise for Rattner from Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Obama-approved GM chief Fritz Henderson, while less savory details about the influence-peddling investigation were buried towards the end of the 18-paragraph article. </p>
Steven Rattner
You can't make this stuff up. The titled quote comes from a Bloomberg story today about new GM Chairman Ed Whitacre. You also can't make up most of the media's calm acceptance of yet another person heavily involved with running General Motors, aka Government Motors, who knows next to nothing about cars except as a consumer who drives them.
At least it's refreshing that this guy has experience running a business, which is more than you can say about the other two architects of the company as it currently subsists.
On May 31, the New York Times put out a fawning portrayal of the a Mr. Brian Deese, the guy who was the only full-timer on President-elect and then President Obama's car team from Election Night until mid-February.
Fasten your seat belts, this guy's lack of any kind of pedigree will have you death-gripping the steering wheel, as will the smug dismissiveness of a business system that has been the most successful in human history: