Question Everything

I’ve got to admit, it’s been funny to watch some of these folks completely rewrite history now that you’re back on your feet. The same folks who said if we went forward with our plan to rescue Detroit, ‘you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye.’ Now they’re saying, ‘We were right all along.’

“Or you’ve got folks saying, ‘The real problem was with the workers. They all made out like bandits. Saving the American auto industry was just about paying back unions.’ Really? Even by the standards of this town, that’s a load of you-know-what. About 700,000 retirees saw a reduction in the health care benefits they had earned. Many of you saw hours reduced, or pay and wages scaled back. You gave up some of your rights as workers. Promises were made to you over the years that you gave up for the sake and survival of this industry, its workers, their families…. I keep hearing these folks talk about ‘values’ all the time. You want to talk about values? Hard work — that’s a value. Looking out for one another — that’s a value. The idea that we’re all in it together — that I am my brother’s keeper; I am my sister’s keeper — that’s a value.

“But they’re still talking about you as if you’re some greedy special interest that needs to be beaten down. Since when are hardworking men and women special interests? Since when is the idea that we look out for one another a bad thing? I remember my old friend Ted Kennedy; he used to say, ‘What is it about working men and women they find so offensive?’