WASHINGTON, D.C. -- By virtue of the fact that a Republican presidential primary has waged in Michigan these past few weeks, the candidates have made the argument, over and over, that the auto industry bailout was a boondoggle for the unions. The chief perpetuator of this line of thinking has been Mitt Romney, who has declared on multiple occasions that the United Auto Workers were given a sweetheart deal when the president bailed out the Big Three, while creditors were forced to wait in line.
Romney has argued that the big deal is corruption: The president was supported by the UAW and paid them back with a favorable bailout. Both the unions and the White House have disputed this. But in practical terms, the notion that the unions got a better deal for their workers than creditors got for themselves isn't exactly radical.
On Tuesday at an address to the United Auto Workers convention in Washington D.C., the president argued rather that lawmakers should be cheering the improving conditions of the Big Three employees. From the embargoed text:
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