Tough On the Car Companies…But Not the Banks?

There is no question that ousting General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner strikes a popular chord.  Our polling director Gary Langer points out that in a December ABC News/Washington Post poll just 22% of Americans thought automakers’ troubles were chiefly caused by the bad economy; 75 percent, instead, attributed them to poor management.

A majority of Americans have opposed bailing out the automakers.

But what about our bailing out of the big banks? 

President Obama is being tough on General Motors and Chrysler.  And while some of the leadership at some of the financial institutions (such as AIG) have been forced out, there are slew of banks (and other entities) that are recieving taxpayer dollars while still being run by the same people.

Here’s an excerpt from a piece by Gerald Seib on the Wall Street Journal‘s site:  "…the Wagoner ouster will inevitably raise the question of why an auto executive has been pushed out while the leaders of such financial titans as Citigroup and Bank of America remain in place, even after taking much larger doses of federal rescue funds.  More broadly, there will be some explaining to do on the left about why at least one auto maker — Chrysler — is being forced into bankruptcy, and another threatened with the same fate, while financial firms get whatever help is needed to stay solvent."

ABC’s Chief White House Correspondent Jake Tapper asked President Obama’s Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about all this today. 

From Jakes blog "Political Punch": 

TAPPER:  Can you explain to Americans who heard the president today why there seems to be this disconnect, a lot of tough talk and tough demands from the administration when it comes to the auto industry, but that doesn’t seem to be carried on when dealing with Wall Street or the banking industry?

GIBBS:  Yes, well, I think — initially I think the first thing I would say to anybody, including the American people, is understand that we have — have taken and are prepared to take extraordinary steps to help the auto industry get back up on its feet, to put it on firmer ground, and to see it return to a stronger position to support the companies, the workers and the communities they’re in. I think if you look at — and I think this question was asked over the course of the last sort of 12 hours — you know, the original — original agreements contemplated a March 31st deadline whereby you would either do — you would either give additional assistance or call the loans.