Taegan Goddard's Political Wire

October 21, 2009

Car Czar Speaks

Steve Rattner, who led the bailout of the auto industry before abruptly leaving his post, writes about his experience in a lengthy Fortune piece:

"New to business meetings with Presidents, I found Obama's style consistent with his 'No drama Obama' image and on a par with the best CEOs I had spent time with. He was cordial without being effusive and decisive when his advisers were divided..."

"The President's political advisers were as torn as his task force: Polls universally showed the public strongly opposed to the auto bailouts. At the same time, the advisers recognized the severe economic and political consequences of a Chrysler shutdown across broad swaths of the industrial Midwest. We were dazzled that chief of staff Rahm Emanuel -- a former congressional leader -- could identify from memory the representatives in whose districts the large Chrysler facilities lay. After about an hour, the president asked for any final comments and then said, 'I've decided. I'm prepared to support Chrysler if we can get the Fiat alliance done on terms that make sense to us.' And we were thrilled when the President said, 'I want you to be tough, and I want you to be commercial.'

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Taegan D. Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

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