Obama Asks Bush to Provide Help for Automakers

Today, the New York Times published a story regarding the declining the financial situation regarding the auto industry. President-elect Barack Obama met with President Bush to discuss the worsening economy and reasoned that it was necessary to save auto companies that are in grave danger of bankruptcy and collapse.

This story caught my attention because it amazes me that the economy is taking such hard hits repeatedly. I'm not necessarily fond of the Bush Administration and I try not to be biased in terms of my dissatisfaction with the regression of the last eight years, but when I read that President Bush would only agree to lend a helping hand to automakers if Obama dropped his opposition to a free-trade agreement with Columbia, I was appauled. It reaffirmed my unhappiness with President Bush when he resorted to bargaining for his own personal gain. The lead follows the summary lead technique.

The story educated me on the dealings and provided key information on the situation. Helpful sources, statistics and background details gave me a clearer understanding of forming an opinion that could be accurately backed. The story also presented the options of going forward or letting the auto industry crash and burn which offered insight to the severity of the situation.

The main point of the story was the meeting between the two politicians and highlighting the topic on-hand. The argument was efficiently summarized in the lead: "President-elect Barack Obama urged President Bush in a meeting at the White House to support immediate emergency aid."

I'm not sure how I would classify the organizational structure of the story. I believe it went from A to Z - traditionally setting the story up following the inverted pyramid. The narrative discussed the most important facts of the story first and then talked about the less pertinent facts as the story ended.

The main points of the story included: discussing the urgency to help the auto industry; facts behind the free-trade Columbian agreement; the Republican Party's stance on saving the auto industry (whom remain surprisingly aloof); the Big Three's (Chrysler, Ford and G.M.) current economic standing (increasingly dire); the fate of the companies if left untreated; and some useful information on organized labor.

By the end of the story, I learned that the auto industry represents a huge part of the United States economy. I was not aware that President Bush was not as willing as President-elect Obama to rescue failing automakers. I did have some unanswered questions, but they can only be answered in due course. I would be curious to see how the situation will ultimately pan out and what the final terms of the stimulus package will be.