Put on your hip waders. Barack Obama needs Michigan.

Obama's campaign today issued a statement responding to GM's announcement that the troubled automaker will be laying off salaried workers, cutting production, suspending its dividend, and borrowing more money in response to its lagging sales.

Obama's statement begins with the obvious boilerplate:

We need real change in Washington.

Change ... in Washington? Isn't it obvious?

Continuing...

That means no longer turning a blind eye to 3.5 million lost manufacturing jobs. It means recognizing the continued importance of the manufacturing sector in our economy, and having a plan to help revive it.

We need to 'revive the manufacturing sector'? But hasn't manufacturing output in the US increased by about 60% since the mid 80s?




Continuing...

When a mainstay of the American economy is forced to make a restructuring decision like the one General Motors is announcing today, it is a sober reminder of the difficult economic times we're facing and of why we need change and a new direction in Washington.

GM is a "mainstay" of the US economy? In the 1950s, GM was the largest company in the US, as measured by percentage of US GDP.

But GM has lost more than half of its market share since the 1960s.

And now its market capitalization is less than 10% of Toyota's. In fact, according to CNBC, GM's market capitalization is now:

about 50% of Avon
about 33% of Carnival Cruise Lines
about 25% of Yahoo!
about 20% of Ebay
about 16% of Home Depot
about 14% of Amgen
about 13% of CVS
about 11% of McDonald's
about 1.5% of ExxonMobil

Continuing...

America’s auto workers are not just the backbone of our economy, they are on the front lines of our effort to produce the next generation of clean vehicles...

'American autoworkers are the backbone of the US economy'?

Volkswagen, Toyota, Daimler, GM, and Ford together have about 1.5 million employees worldwide. That's less 2% of all US workers.

According to the US Dept. of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than 1% of all workers in the US work in the auto industry.

In the manufacturing sector alone, more people make machinery; more people make computers; and more people process food.

More people work in the construction industry; more people work in the trucking industry; more people work in the telecommunication industry; more people work in the communications industry, combining publishing, television, motion pictures, and sound recording; more people work in the banking industry; more people work in the architectural and engineering industries; more people work in the entertainment industry; and more people work in the health care industry.

Continuing...

I have complete confidence that GM and our other auto companies will adapt and thrive in the 21st century economy if we bring real change to Washington and forge a true partnership together. That is what I intend to do as President.

'Forge a partnership between Washington and Detroit'?

God help us all...