Flint Photos: Pastor Sherman McCathern and President Barack Obama

President Barack Obama meets Sherman McCathern, pastor of Joy Tabernacle Church, on his 2016 visit to Flint, Michigan.

Tom Foreman — Not Anderson Cooper — on Flint and Luck

CNN's Tom Foreman looks very disappointed in this photo. And why shouldn't he be after Flint Expatriates mistakenly attributed some of his work to CNN's Anderson Cooper. Thanks to several readers for pointing out this pre-coffee error.

Anyway, Foreman says America should give Flint a break in an open letter to President Obama:

"Sometimes I think it is too easy for people to heap praise on places that succeed, like Austin, and to call them prescient; and simultaneously too simple to pile scorn on places that struggle, like Flint, Michigan, and call them ill-prepared for changing times, as if they should have seen it coming.

"Maybe they should have. Or maybe they were unlucky. Or maybe a little of both."

Flint, The Onion, and the Americans with No Abilities Act

More than a decade ago the satirical newspaper The Onion published a fictitious and very entertaining story on the passage of the Americans with No Abilities Act (AWNAA) "that provides benefits and protection for more than 135 million talentless Americans."

It appears the story has been updated, given a Flint angle, and disseminated once again. It's making the inevitable rounds on the Internet. A few Americans — apparently the same ones who think Barack Obama is a fascist infiltrator born in Africa — actually believe it's true. Um, let's see, how can I make this clear? It's not true. (If only Flint's movers and shakers could find these gullible dupes and tell them about the amazing real estate and business opportunities available in Flint.)

And speaking of Flint, the original Onion story featured a quote from one Mary Lou Gertz, "who lost her position as an unessential filing clerk at a Minneapolis tile wholesaler last month because of her lack of notable skills." In the latest version, Mary Lou has relocated to Flint and works for G.M.

"As a Non-abled person, I can't be expected to keep up with people who have something going for them," said Mary Lou Gertz, who lost her position as a lug-nut twister at the GM plant in Flint, Michigan, due to her lack of any discernible job skills. "This new law should really help people like me." With the passage of this bill, Gertz and millions of other untalented citizens will finally see a light at the end of the tunnel.

Ed Montgomery's Mission to Help the Auto Industry's Casualties

Dana Hedgpeth of The Washington Post has a nice profile of Ed Montgomery, who is Obama's "point man to help auto workers and communities that depend" on the car industry.

"Montgomery, whose wife is the granddaughter of a General Motors worker from Portland, Mich., lives in Howard County and drives a 2000 Lincoln. He used to drive his 1990 Harley-Davidson motorcycle to College Park. He's broad-shouldered and wears black-framed glasses that make him look like the college professor he was.

"Montgomery has written extensively on labor unions, unemployment and other economic trends. He is careful to point out that textbooks often give examples of how things should work on average, but that the solutions may not work for every city. Health care jobs may thrive in one town, for example, while manufacturing parts for wind turbines may be a better fit in another.

"'This is a bottom-up effort,' Montgomery recently told a group of politicians, community leaders and auto workers at a community college in Flint. 'This is not Washington talking to Flint. This is Flint talking to Washington.'"

G.M. Bankruptcy More Likely Now?

The Chrysler bankruptcy may make it a more appealing option for President Obama as he attempts to reform G.M., according to The New York Times:

No one thinks Mr. Obama is going to allow G.M. to be broken up, its assets sold or abandoned.

But if the Chrysler legal process unfolds as the White House hopes it will in coming weeks, the bankruptcy option may look increasingly attractive for G.M. as well, officials on Mr. Obama’s automotive task force said. Bankruptcy may also be the only way to force the kind of paring down that Chrysler, with a third of G.M.’s workers and half the number of plants, did not have to endure.

“The threat of bankruptcy is very important in the negotiations with the bondholders and the dealers and others,” said David E. Cole, chairman of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich. “Without a clear and present danger to them, they won’t make a reasonable deal.”

Wagoner Finished at GM

The New York Times reports:

"The chairman and chief executive of General Motors, Rick Wagoner, is resigning, just hours before President Obama was expected to unveil his rescue plans for G.M. and the ailing American auto industry, a person close to the decision said Sunday.

"Mr. Wagoner was asked to step down, and agreed to do so, as part of G.M.’s restructuring agreement with the Obama administration, according to an administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity because a formal announcement has not been made yet."

Buy American...Even If It's Made in Canada

Now for something from the I'm-not-quite-sure-what-the-point-is category...

The Detroit News, which is on the verge of going out of business, reports that many Obama administration officials are just like most other Americans — they prefer foreign to domestic when it comes to cars.

Of course, figuring out what counts as an "American" car these days ain't easy. As UM-Flint's Mark J. Perry points out, several American cars, including the Buick Lacrosse and the Chevy Impala, are made by UAW workers in Canada. "What about the 2008 Honda Pilot and Honda Civics," he asks, "built in the U.S. with higher domestic content (70%) than the 2008 Dodge Ram (68%) and the Michigan-built Ford Mustang (65%)?" And don't forget about the cars that sound foreign, like the Mitsubishi Galant and the Toyota Corolla, that are often made by UAW workers in the U.S.

It's all a little confusing. Unless, like me, you've got a 1990 Camry that's paid off and a San Francisco-sized mortgage. I'm not paralyzed by choice. I'm broke.

UPDATE: An insider at one of the Big Three points out that there's a big difference between "Made in America" and "Assembled in America."

The distinction that is being made about what is "Made in America" is a subtle one. More accurate for many foreign nameplates with factories here is "Assembled in America". A significant part of the cost of a vehicle is in the assembly process (i.e. the factory workers who make $40-60K per year and use that money to buy things in their communities). An equally significant piece of the cost structure are the support functions that also help build middle class neighborhoods in Flint and Detroit. These are the engineering, purchasing, finance, and IT functions just to name a few. Thousands of these folks work for the auto companies and these jobs go away when volume drops just like the factory jobs. One of the differences between a foreign company and an American company is that these jobs - thousands of them - are here in the US - not in Japan, or China, or Korea. Some of these companies may have a design center here and there but the vast bulk of their support groups are in their home country. So saying that a Japanese car assembled at a factory here in the US is just as American as a Chevy or Ford assembled in the US is not correct. The dollars traded within our communities by employees and families of the Detroit Three far exceed those traded by factory workers of foreign nameplates.

Think about this for a minute. One day, when the volume and demand return for auto purchases again, every car company in the world will be making money. When profits are made, people get raises and maybe even bonuses. The support employees right up to the mid level managers may get a modest bonus in a good year - say $3 - 6K. They may use that money to build a new deck, put on a roof, replace the windows on their house, take a vacation - you name it - the point is they put that money back into the economy. The big guys with the bigger paychecks put more back into the economy and often donate more as well. Nearly 100% of the cultural centers in Flint and Detroit are due to the generosity from the folks who helped create great wealth from the auto industry.

So when Toyota makes money, where does that wealth go? Right back to Japan.

Where a car is assembled is not the only measure of what constitutes "Made in America" and I would argue that the wealth and support of the US economy by a foreign car assembled in the US is dwarfed by an American car company assembling a car anywhere in north America. Think about that next time you want to justify your support of the US economy by purchasing a Honda assembled in Ohio.

Inauguration Day...Finally!

What's Next Cocktail Lounge

The corner of Pasadena and Clio, where party politics takes on a new meaning...

A Chicken in Every Pot...or Something Like That

Barack Obama is winning praise for his economic team, but there's one "expert" the president elect has not called on for advice — Flint Mayor Don Williamson. But don't worry, The Don is sending the city administrator to Washington with a plan that will solve all our problems.

Joe Lawlor at The Flint Journal reports:

"Just about every household in America would be in line for a a voucher to purchase a new car if Mayor Don Williamson has his way.

"Williamson is sending City Administrator Darryl Buchanan to Washington D.C. next week to tout his big idea to save the auto industry as part of the Mayors Automotive Coalition lobbying Congress for the Detroit Three's $34-billion loan.

"Williamson said under his idea, each household with a registered voter would receive a $5,000 voucher to purchase a new car. He hasn't calculated how much the plan would cost taxpayers."

With brilliant — and costly — moves like this, it's hard to figure out why Williamson is facing a recall election.

Presidential Power

Mark Marku, the Yugoslavian-born owner of Clio Road Coney Island has rechristened his restaurant. The new name? Obama Coney Island, of course.

Big Three Still Looking for Help

Soon-to-be-ex-President Bush just might help out the auto industry, but only if he gets to help the government of Colombia in the process.

Michigan on Obama's Agenda

To state the obvious, U.S. automakers are losing a ton of money. They simply can't survive for very long at this rate. But two interesting items that relate directly to what's left of Michigan's auto industry came out of President-elect Barack Obama's news conference today. Jeff Zeleny and Jackie Calmes of The New York Times report:

"The president-elect said he and his advisers would try to find ways to help the struggling automobile industry, and that he hoped to see enactment of an economic-stimulus package either before or soon after Inauguration Day. 'The auto industry is the backbone of American manufacturing and a critical part of our attempt to reduce our dependence on foreign oil,' he said. 'I would like to see the Administration do everything they can to accelerate the retooling assistance that Congress has already enacted.'"

And...

"[Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm of Michigan, one of Obama's economic advisors] is a strong proponent of a stimulus package in the lame-duck Congressional session. Previewing her advice to Mr. Obama, she sent a letter to Congressional leaders on Thursday urging them to finance public infrastructure projects, extend unemployment and food stamp benefits and provide aid to states and the troubled auto industry."

Voting for Family and Country

Flint Expatriate Stephen Rodrick writes about everything that can go into casting a single ballot in a presidential election.

"I bit my lip all fall. I watched the markets fall and McCain's botched response remove the last doubt that he was going to lose, perhaps badly. I avoided political conversations for the most part, but found myself at a friend's house on the Upper West Side watching the last debate with a group of Ivy Leaguers and policy wonks. The derision of McCain began early. After the 17th joke about his strange facial expressions, I left, telling my host that I didn't have a problem with folks not supporting him, but the vilification of a man who spent longer in a prison camp than Obama spent in the Senate wasn't how I wanted to spend my evening.

"After that, I became more open about my McCain empathy. I argued how he had a proven record of working across the aisle and despises Bush and why his administration would be nothing like Bush's, particularly with heavy Democratic majorities in both houses. But I knew it was window dressing. I would not be voting for McCain if he were not a Navy pilot, if he had not suffered, as my mom put it, like my family suffered."

Genesee County Picks a Winner

With all the votes counted, Genesee County backs Obama:

Obama: 65.5%
McCain: 32.9%
Other: 1.6%

The New York Times has a great county-by-county breakdown of the election here.

Obama says pull up your pants

Obama weighs in on laws against baggy pants, and he's not on Flint Mayor Don Williamson's side.

MTV Shows

Thanks to future Flint resident Michael G. for passing this along.

Want political power? Move to Wyoming

One person gets one vote in the United States. But the Electoral College ensures that some of those votes are a lot more valuable than others. As Sarah K. Cowan points out in The New York Times, individual voters in states like Michigan and California have far less influence than voters in sparsely populated backwaters like Wyoming, North Dakota and Alaska.

When you study it closely, the way we elect presidents could lead to some bizarre results:

"This system, along with the winner-take-all practice used to allocate most states’ electoral votes, creates the potential for an absurd outcome. In the unlikely event that all 213 million eligible voters cast ballots, either John McCain or Barack Obama could win enough states to capture the White House with only 47.8 million strategically located votes. The presidency could be won with just 22 percent of the electorate’s support, only 16 percent of the entire population’s."

Your own personal blue-collar Jesus

I've been fairly obsessed with politics ever since I can remember, but even I'm getting a little burned out at this point in the campaign. I've already voted absentee, so all I can do now is poll watch and try not to get too stressed out.

And yet, here I am, trolling the Internet the day after Halloween for any insight into the presidential election that I haven't seen before. That can lead you to some strange, unexpected places, like the Blue Collar Jesus blog. Yes, that's what it's called. (Please note that I am not an evangelical Christian. My religious "devotion" is primarily confined to attending the occasional lecture at the San Francisco Zen Center, rooting for Notre Dame on Saturdays, and wishing the Sisters of St. Joseph were still running a school on Franklin Avenue.)

Anyway, I thought the site, and this particular post, offered a few interesting ideas about some Flint voters and the confluence of race and religion in this election. After all, if anyone is going to believe in a pro-labor, blue-collar Jesus, it would be a Flintoid.

"Popular evangelicals do not have a coherent ideology. They are often be conservative on social issues and very liberal on economic issues. They possess orthodox theological beliefs but progressive politics, but there are no forums or role models for expressing this. However, recent successes among socially conservative Democrats may be creating political space for these folks.

"When it comes to racism there are two strategies. The professional evangelicals fuel racism on the issue of immigration. Or they divert attention from the shared economic self-interests of working class whites and African Americans by substituting a vision of racial cooperation based on social issues, such as gay marriage.

"Working class evangelicals cannot see Obama as a blue collar son because of what they hear the professional evangelicals saying about him: Elitist, militant, liberal, socialist, Muslim. Scratch the surface and these words reveal a deeper racist message: Obama is the Anti-Christ with an afro.

"The great untapped truth is that white, working class evangelicals share a common economic and spiritual connection with the black church. Both benefit from progressive economic policies. And they sing the same hymns. The long history of American evangelicalism bears this out."

Again, I'm not endorsing a religion or a candidate with this post. Just thought it was a thought-provoking take on this momentous election.

Predicting the Past

Graphic via www.newyorkmag.com

Adam Sternbergh has a fascinating profile of Nate Silver, the so-called "Spreadsheet Psychic," in this week's New York Magazine. In addition to forecasting baseball games with great accuracy, Silver also calls elections. As of October 8, he had the electoral vote count tilting heavily toward Obama — 354.4 to 192.6.

Of special interest to Michiganders is his breakdown of who would have won the state's Democratic primary if Barack Obama had been on the ballot along with Hillary Clinton.

Obama by four percent, according to Silver.

Thanks But No Thanks?

Obama's campaign was doing so well, and now this...