Jeb Bush’s Detroit Visit Overshadowed by Anti-Auto Bailout Stance
More: Guest Column: Jeb Bush’s Detroit Visit Overshadowed by Anti-Auto Bailout Stance
The Republican 2016 primary is in full swing. Potential candidates are traveling the country pitching their conservative ideas like cutting taxes for the wealthy, blocking free community college for those who work for it, taking away affordable health care for millions of Americans, and blocking comprehensive immigration reform.
These ideas coming from Republicans are not new and not surprising. But a particular candidate’s visit today to a particular city is surprising.
Today, the Detroit Economic Club is set to welcome Jeb Bush to speak to its members — a visit that is shadowed by Bush’s history with our automotive industry.
Just a couple years ago Jeb Bush was asked by Charlie Rose if he supported the President’s decision to rescue General Motors. Without hesitation, he responded: “I don’t. I don’t.”
You don’t?
So Jeb Bush doesn’t support the over one million jobs saved by the auto rescue? Jobs in Detroit and across Michigan and throughout the country.
Bush’s position echoes that of the last GOP presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, who was willing to “let Detroit go bankrupt.”
Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush are one in the same on many issues, but their positions on the president’s bold decision to rescue the auto industry, and save our local economy are unforgivable.
And since the rescue, the auto industry has become a key component in our economy’s rebound. Last year alone light-vehicle sales totaled 16.5 million, the highest number since 2006.
But the President’s decision to rescue the auto industry wasn’t just about helping an American industry at a time when it needed it the most, or about having faith in the American worker whose hard work and ingenuity could rebound after a crisis. It was about the millions of middle class and working families who would be without a paycheck, without a way to pay rent, or a way to feed the kids.
But that’s just it. Republicans like Jeb Bush put their own political priorities ahead of middle class and working families, like those in Detroit and across the Midwest who directly benefitted from the rescue.
Republicans like Jeb Bush and those vying to be their party’s 2016 nominee, have decided who they’re going to fight for, and it’s not the middle class. It’s the wealthy, it’s the entitled, and it’s the richest slice of Americans who bankroll their campaigns.
It’s clear who the Democrats are fighting for. Just this week, President Obama outlined his budget to strengthen the middle class and help America’s hard-working families get ahead. President Obama and Democrats understand that investing in and supporting the middle class will create a sustainable national economy that is built to last.
That’s the difference. Democrats will continue to stand with and fight for middle class families, while Republicans will choose to fight for special interests, and stand up against decisions that support middle class families, like rescuing the American auto industry.
Speaking as one of the longterm unemployed Americans who despaired of ever rejoining the work force, the auto industry bailout has been a godsend.