Hope is Found in Unlikely Places: An Open Letter to President Obama

Dear President Obama,

You moved the nation with your speech to Congress last night. You called us to task and made us accountable. You treated us as citizens with civic responsibility and a roll to play in society. You told us, “Hope is found in unlikely places.”

And you admitted that mistakes would be made. That’s why when you got to the topic of the auto industry, we who frequent the automotive industry for our daily bread in Detroit and beyond, understand you still have a lot to learn about the historic roll of the automobile in American society, if you are to make wise decisions about it’s future.

You scolded domestic automakers for making bad decisions and magnified by the pressure of the global recession. Once again, you did not acknowledge progress, or the strides that have been made in recent years to make better cars, or that there are American cars that people might want to drive, like the Chrysler 300C you drove not long ago. You did not acknowledge the Americans who survive working for foreign car companies who are also in danger of losing their jobs because of this crippling recession, in Alabama, and even in Michigan, too. You also didn’t hold the American people responsible for not buying American cars, including your cabinet members who are charged with the task of reforming car companies without any daily driving experience in domestic product. You did not ask people to drive green cars. Or to drive less and walk more.

Your criticisms were glossy and unspecific. We are a tad disappointed that after long days on the campaign trail, we hoped you would walk away with a more keen understanding of the issues, after listening and observing autoworkers toiling in the plants. You are an academic, a former professor who bases arguments on history and fact. You didn’t know that Karl Benz of Mercedes-Benz invented the automobile in 1885. What we invented in America, which is just as crucial,is Henry Ford’s assembly line in 1914. The process of industry — that’s what we perfected, and that’s what we have given away. We learned how to use our hands, a painful process, and why people struggled and died for unions needed to protect workers’ health. This is why we think you should read up on the history or Detroit and you will gain a better understanding of a story that plays out in 49 other states, in steel, agriculture, production, finance. In other words, how America works. You will see the mistakes — how big business has made gross errors, sacrificing quality of life and hindering long term development in the name of immediate profit. You will also see the triumphs — how times of good business delivered a quality middle-class American dream, based on teamwork and company loyalty not found in a the present era dominated by Wall Street greed.

You did not acknowledge our industrial and scientific heroes, past or present, visionary and imperfect, who still make America the country to beat. This is why our struggling Detroit community needs you and why we still have much to give back to the world. You didn’t acknowledge the diversity that American car companies have compared to foreign counterparts in engineering and design ranks that make us stronger and better with women and minorities rising in the decision making rolls. You didn’t mention that there are state-funded universities addressing these problems as they train up and coming future workers, both white and blue collar. While we are behind in the cold business of sales, we have not turned over our arms, as we have in manufacturing goods. For the most part, cars are not “made in China.”

We are an industrial society and if you are to grasp policy issues that impact global relations, education and development, we think you need to hire some advisers to brief you who are better informed. We think that you are in danger of political bias that works against your administration, when California congress people have to answer to foreign automakers. We hope that you find ways to work with these global companies that is fair, too.

We hope, at the end of the day, you are on our side. We hope you learn how to acknowledge strengths as a way to cultivate and reform weaknesses. We agree that there’s a lot that needs to be done to gain equal footing, but we hope that you familiarize yourself with the issues that you are basing your subsequent policy on. If energy is by definition the capacity of a physical system to perform work, then your commitment to energy must be built upon a system that functions with logic and efficiency. The truth is, we are living in a global society. We must learn how to work internationally and at home. We must always look for balance, the precarious result of being interconnected through technology. When you put a little more thought into this matter, as we suspect you will, we think that you indeed will find hope in unlikely places, where education, energy, science, dreams, logic, creativity and altruism come together. That’s why we are so excited about your term as president and why we look to you to rebuild our future on the blocks that are molded firmly in American soil, moving us forward.

With great admiration and respect,

Tamara, Chuck and the Gotryke team.

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