“But I want you to know that what you’re doing is making a sacrifice for the next generation — a sacrifice you may not have chose to make, but a sacrifice you were nevertheless called to make so that your children and all of our children can grow up in an America that still makes things; that still builds cars; that still strives for a better future. ”

So said President Obama during his press conference about the bankruptcy filing of General Motors on Monday.  Those words really mean something coming from the man who spent some $24,000 of taxpayer money to take his wife on a jet-set “date” to New York City the previous Saturday night, don’t you think?

“What we are not doing — what I have no interest in doing — is running GM. GM will be run by a private board of directors and management team with a track record in American manufacturing that reflects a commitment to innovation and quality. They — and not the government — will call the shots and make the decisions about how to turn this company around. The federal government will refrain from exercising its rights as a shareholder in all but the most fundamental corporate decisions. When a difficult decision has to be made on matters like where to open a new plant or what type of new car to make, the new GM, not the United States government, will make that decision.”

So that explains why President Obama called Detroit mayor Dave Bing on Sunday night, just hours before that bankruptcy filing, to reassure the mayor that you “support” GM’s headquarters remaining in its downtown Renaissance Center buildings, rather than wisely consolidate to its nearby Technical Center property in Warren, Michigan.

It also explains why a key member of the auto task force and charged with dismantling GM is a 31-year old with absolutely no business experience, let alone any experience in anything that even remotely resembles the automotive industry.

Birds of a feather, Mr. President?