Was Obama Tough Enough?

Barack Obama gave GM and Chrysler some tough love yesterday. Too tough, or too much love? Here’s what the papers are saying:

• Obama “delivered a believable, sharp, and necessary ultimatum,” says the Washington Post. He rightly demanded union concessions, and put bankruptcy back on the table.
• But the Chicago Tribune thinks Obama should have gone straight to bankruptcy. “An ultimatum is more believable if you haven't just failed to follow through on a previous one.”

• Obama has put Detroit “on a new road of politicized industrial policy,” says the Wall Street Journal, and should have chosen bankruptcy instead. “From now on, GM and Chrysler are Mr. Obama's companies.”
• But bankruptcy isn’t a blanket solution, the Detroit Free Press opines. Just because a judge could tear up worker benefits doesn’t mean it should, and no judge can unilaterally make GM or Chrysler clean car kings—that takes changes in tax and regulatory policies, too.

(More auto industry stories.)