Ford Forced to Pull Advertisement by the White House?

Vladimir Putin is going to take back power in Russia, the Middle East continues to collapse, Europe is facing maybe perhaps its worst financial crisis in decades, China continues to build up its armed forces... and President Obama and his administration is putting the pressure on Ford Motor Company to stop running a commercial which is critical of GM and Chrysler for taking taxpayer money and breaking long-established bankruptcy laws in order to stay in business.

Via the Detroit News:

For the only Detroit automaker that "didn't take the money" of the federal auto bailouts, Ford Motor Co. keeps paying a price for its comparative success and self-reliant turnaround.

There's no help from American taxpayers to help lighten its debt load, giving crosstown rivals comparatively better credit ratings and a financial edge Ford is working diligently to erase all on its own. There's no clause barring a strike by hourly workers amid this fall's national contract talks with the United Auto Workers — a by-product of the taxpayer-financed bailout that General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC retain until 2015. And there's no assurance the Dearborn automaker can use the commercially advantageous fact that it didn't "take the money" proffered by the Obama Treasury Department and use it in TV ads angling to sell cars and trucks. Not if the campaign takes a whack at its Detroit rivals and suggests that Ford no longer supports the Obama administration bailouts it backed in public statements and sworn congressional testimony.

As part of a campaign featuring "real people" explaining their decision to buy the Blue Oval, a guy named "Chris" says he "wasn't going to buy another car that was bailed out by our government," according the text of the ad, launched in early September.

"I was going to buy from a manufacturer that's standing on their own: win, lose, or draw. That's what America is about is taking the chance to succeed and understanding when you fail that you gotta' pick yourself up and go back to work."

That's what some of America is about, evidently. Because Ford pulled the ad after individuals inside the White House questioned whether the copy was publicly denigrating the controversial bailout policy CEO Alan Mulally repeatedly supported in the dark days of late 2008, in early '09 and again when the ad flap arose. And more.

With President Barack Obama tuning his re-election campaign amid dismal economic conditions and simmering antipathy toward his stimulus spending and associated bailouts, the Ford ad carried the makings of a political liability when Team Obama can least afford yet another one. Can't have that.

The ad (was) pulled in response to White House questions...

That's right- the White House is busy occupying its time with silencing anyone domestically who speaks out against its policies, even if they are private businesses and they have valid criticisms. The Democratic Party is putting this administration forward as their best choice to continue running our nation- that fact right there should tell you everything you need to know about which party to vote against in the coming 2012 election.