Did Ford Taste the Power of the Pimp Hand?
I don’t quite know how to say this, but there’s a very good chance the Obama administration might have an Abuse of Power scandal brewing today.
Yes, I know. You’re probably saying to yourself, “Abuse of Power? Those meek little lambs? Impossible!”
On the other hand, you might also say, “Jimmie, I know all about Operation Fast and Furious and Solyndra. What do you mean by ‘very good chance’ and ‘might’? This administration wields its power like a guy named Huggy Bear wields his mighty pimp hand!”. You’re right, of course. What you and I think of as “abuse of power” Barack Obama things of as “just regular old political power”.
This scandal could be very bad though. If it’s true, the administration used the might of our government, borrowed our power as citizens, to make a company retract a commercial some might see as critical of one of the President’s favorite programs. Granted, it’s not as if the President actually fired a CEO of a private enterprise or anything, but…well…here’s the story.
Ford has a series of commercials wherein they get a few regular folks, let them drive a Ford car or truck around for a while, then surprise then with press conference where they get a chance to brag about how much they loved the Ford car. One of those commercials featured a man named Chris, who told the assembled “reporters” that he would never buy an automobile from a company that took a government bailout. As you can imagine, the commercial made a bit of a splash, as most companies don’t do political commentary unless they’re owned mostly by the government or stand to receive truckloads of money in return for their lobbying efforts.
Today, Daniel Howes reported in his column for the Detroit News that Ford has pulled that ad under direct pressure from the White House.
…Ford pulled the ad after individuals inside the White House questioned whether the copy was publicly denigrating the controversial bailout policy CEO Alan Mulally repeatedly supported in the dark days of late 2008, in early ’09 and again when the ad flap arose. And more.
With President Barack Obama tuning his re-election campaign amid dismal economic conditions and simmering antipathy toward his stimulus spending and associated bailouts, the Ford ad carried the makings of a political liability when Team Obama can least afford yet another one. Can’t have that.
The ad, pulled in response to White House questions (and, presumably, carping from rival GM), threatened to rekindle the negative (if accurate) association just when the president wants credit for their positive results (GM and Chrysler are moving forward, making money and selling vehicles) and to distance himself from any public downside of his decision.
In other words, where presidential politics and automotive marketing collide — clean, green, politically correct vehicles not included — the president wins and the automaker loses because the benefit of the battle isn’t worth the cost of waging it.
This column made its way around Twitter earlier today, but I wanted to wait until there was some independent verification of the story. Michelle Malkin dug into the story and found that Howes is standing behind the story. On the other hand, Ford’s Social Media Manager told her that his company did not pull the ad under pressure and directed her to this post on Ford’s Facebook page that says the company pulled the ad because it has run its normally-scheduled course. Indeed, the ad is still part of Ford’s YouTube channel with only about 300 views, though the original version of the commercial, the version that was linked in the original reports that got the impressive number of views, is no longer there.
I note the number of views because it is possible that Ford pulled one version of the ad knowing that most bloggers and media organizations wouldn’t go back and change their links, assuming they knew the video has been pulled in the first place. That wouldn’t be a complete walkback, but it would effectively stop most people from viewing the commercial. After all, how many people would take the time to search for a different version on Ford’s YouTube channel without a specific reason to do so? If the commercial isn’t on television and it’s more difficult to find on the web, the White House would get most of what it wants and Ford could save face. Of course, such a thing would only occur to a very devious person who knew social media pretty well and surely those people don’t exist, right?
So here’s where the story stands. The reporter who made the allegation stands by the information given to him by a Ford VP and the original version of the video, the one that got goodness knows how many links and views, is gone from YouTube. Ford says it has not pulled the video and a version of it, viewed by only a few, does remain on Ford’s YouTube channel where a clever person could find it. We’ll have to see how the details play out, assuming more of them come out over the next few days. As of now, the rumor of the government pimp hand remains a plausible rumor. I hope it is not true.
Other Posts of Interest:
- Free Speech? Not if You’re a Republican in Congress
- Capita-What Again?
- Don’t Ask. Don’t Tell. Don’t Criticize the Leader.
Category: Free Speech (?), President Barack Obama
[...] remember that during the 2008-09 recession, Ford was the only automobile manufacture not to need a bail out. “This scandal could be very bad though. If it’s true, the administration used the might of our [...]