'Osama Bin Laden is Dead and GM is Recalling', would not have sounded right.

"The Justice Department has begun a criminal investigation into General Motors’ decade-long failure to address deadly safety problems before announcing a huge vehicle recall last month, according to people briefed on the matter."

Right off the bat, the NY Times sees fit to put some distance between the Obama takeover of G.M. and the failure to "address deadly safety problems".

The preliminary inquiry by federal prosecutors in New York is focused on whether G.M., the nation’s largest automaker, failed to comply with laws requiring timely disclosure of vehicle defects. The prosecutors, one of the people said, are questioning whether G.M. misled federal regulators about the extent of the problems.

It's one thing to use the IRS to make it harder for tea parties to get off the ground, quite another, to possibly threaten the safety millions of Americans take for granted, when they get behind the wheel of their presumably safe automobiles.

The investigation is the latest in a widening series of threats to G.M. over its handling of faulty ignition switches in its Chevrolet Cobalt sedan and other cars that the company says are linked to 31 accidents and 13 deaths. READ MORE

I started reading this story last night, but I didn't quite make the connections back to the administration, possibly micromanaging G.M., to make the company a re-election prop. Although, I did remember the Joe Biden Democratic Party Convention "Osama Bin Laden is Dead and General Motors is Alive" mantra. It was politically powerful.

Here is Liz Peek, of The Fiscal Times, asking some pertinent questions about the possible White House interference...

Did the Obama administration purposefully hide problems with GM cars? Were they panicked that a massive recall of GM products would undermine one of President Obama’s most self-congratulatory campaign themes – that he “saved” Detroit’s auto industry? This is a tale of two car companies: GM, shining star in President Obama’s reelection galaxy, and Toyota, which became political fodder...

Skipping down...

By 2011 there had been 204 complaints lodged. In 2010 then-Congressman Barney Frank inquired on behalf of a constituent about the multiple accidents apparently brought on by the random deceleration issue. He was told by NHTSA that it had “insufficient evidence to warrant opening a safety defect investigation.” By that time, there had been several fatalities related to Cobalts’ stalling. Still, NHTSA did nothing.

At the same time, after the Obama administration had orchestrated a government takeover of General Motors, NHTSA hit Toyota with its largest-ever fine and demanded a recall of some 9 million cars and trucks. Over several years, NHTSA had received more than 3,000 reports of sudden acceleration in Toyotas; there had been some 75 fatal crashes. Though the incidents of problems continued to mount, it was not clear at the time of the recall what exactly accounted for the mishaps. The Wall Street Journal announced that a report attributing most of the accidents to driver error had been “temporarily blocked” by safety officials, acting under the direction of Secretary of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. READ MORE

Yes, Ray LaHood was/is a republican politician, precisely why I would like to hear what he has to say under oath.

"Because of the calls he made"