PoliGraph: Rybak hits two, misses one
Call it the Battle of the Surrogates.
Last week, as President Barack Obama toured Ohio and Pennsylvania to talk up his efforts to revitalize the U.S. economy, he was shadowed former Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana who criticized the president's record on behalf of GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney.
Obama surrogate Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak was on hand to defend the president. In a conference call with reporters, Rybak said getting the auto industry back on its feet is one of Obama's major accomplishments.
"The auto industry is also one that the president stepped up to save - we made a million more cars in America this year - and that's the auto industry that Mitt Romney would have collapsed and outsourced to China," Rybak said.
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Rybak's claim starts out on solid ground, but ultimately falls apart.
The Evidence
Rybak makes it sound as if Obama is entirely responsible for the auto industry's turnaround, but it was former President George W. Bush who started the process in the last days of his administration.
In December 2008, Bush announced billions in loans for GM and Chrysler from the Wall Street bailout, with more money coming the following year. The assistance came with significant conditions, including the requirement that the firms come up with a long-term profitability plan.
After Obama took office, he ultimately rejected the auto firms' viability proposals, and announced bankruptcy plans for both companies that would allow them to overhaul operations and get more aid in the long run.
Since then, the auto industry in Detroit is doing decidedly better. Sales among the Detroit automakers are up as of this year. And in 2011, GM reported record profit just two years after it emerged from bankruptcy.
Still, "saved" is probably a strong word. Both GM and Chrysler still owe the government a combined $37.24 billion, according to a daily update published by the Treasury Department.
Rybak also said that the U.S. is on track to make one million more cars this year than it did in 2011, and Alec Gutierrez, an analyst for Kelley Blue Book, says that number is in range.
Roughly 14.2 million vehicles are expected to be sold this year in the U.S., about 1.5 million more than what was sold in 2011. Of the cars sold in the U.S. annually, roughly 80-85 percent of them are made locally, Gutierrez said, though he pointed out that those cars aren't made only in Michigan, which largely benefited from the auto bailout. Other parts of the Midwest and the Southeast also have robust car manufacturing markets.
Rybak is on far shakier ground on his last point, because he implies Romney wants to ship the U.S. auto industry to China.
It's true that Romney opposed the auto bailout because he believed it would allow the car companies to continue unsustainable financial practices without consequence.
"Without that bailout, Detroit will need to drastically restructure itself," Romney wrote in a 2008 New York Times op-ed. "With it, the automakers will stay the course -- the suicidal course of declining market shares, insurmountable labor and retiree burdens, technology atrophy, product inferiority and never-ending job losses."
And it's also true that a recent Washington Post article found that Romney's company, Bain Capital, invested in firms that sent jobs to China and other places, a talking point that's popular among Romney's opponents.
But Romney has never said he thought the Detroit car companies should relocate to China, as Rybak's claim implies.
A spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, which organized the Rybak call with reporters, wrote that "the relevant point is that Romney claims to be tough on China, but he has repeatedly criticized the President's efforts to protect American workers, including American tire companies."
The Verdict
Rybak is basically correct on his first two points.
Obama's administration played an instrumental role in boosting GM and Chrysler, and his estimate that one million more cars will be made in the U.S. this year is in range.
However, Rybak's last point is misleading to the point of being false.
SOURCES
DNC call with reporters featuring Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, July 5, 2012
Politico, Bush announces $17.4 billion auto bailout, by David Rogers and Mike Allen, Dec. 19, 2008
The White House, Fact Sheet: Financing Assistance to Facilitate the Restructuring of Auto Manufacturers to Attain Financial Viability, accessed July 10, 2012
The New York Times, Automakers Seek $14 Billion More, Vowing Deep Cuts, by Bill Vlasic and Nick Bunkley, Feb. 17, 2009
The Associated Press, Detroit automakers race to keep up with sales, Feb. 28, 2012
CNN, GM posts record profit 2 years after bankruptcy, by Chris Isidore, Feb. 16, 2012
The Treasury Department, Daily TARP Update for 07/10/2012
The Auto Alliance, What's Ahead for Auto Industry Sales?, accessed July 11, 2012
Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Table 1-15: Annual U.S. Motor Vehicle Production and Factory (Wholesale) Sales, accessed July 11, 2012
The New York Times, Let Detroit Go Bankrupt, By Mitt Romney, Nov. 18, 2008
The Washington Post, Romney's Bain Capital invested in companies that moved jobs overseas, by Tom Hamburger, June 21, 2012
Interview, Jim Dorsey, HIS Global Insight, July 11, 2012
Interview, Alec Gutierrez, Kelley Blue Book, July 11, 2012
E-mail exchange, Patrick Rodenbush, the Democratic National Commmittee, July 11, 2012