Obama's tough love for U.S. automakers

President Barack Obama gave some tough love to the U.S. auto industry Monday, saying that g “a failure of leadership from Washington to Detroit,” had contributed to the industry's problems. He said General Motors and Chrysler needed to cut more from their operations or go it alone, without government assistance.
Obama assured the industry that he remains committed to trying to help it survive, but said it needed to do better from its own standpoint and that he was not going to let it become "a ward of the state."
He said that if bankruptcy-protection filings were needed to help GM and Chrysler survive, then that's what they should do.
“Year after year, decade after decade, we have seen problems papered-over and tough choices kicked down the road, even as foreign competitors outpaced us,” Obama said. “Well, we have reached the end of that road. And we, as a nation, cannot afford to shirk responsibility any longer.
“Now is the time to confront our problems head-on and do what’s necessary to solve them.”
For its part, GM said that it wants to work with the administration, and finally conceded that a bankruptcy filing might be in the offing.