Oops.
President Obama is going to Ford Motor Company’s Michigan Assembly plant this week to brag about the recovery of the auto industry. Unfortunately, the plant will be closed because of low demand at the time of his speech.
According to the White House, Obama will visit the plant on Wednesday to “deliver remarks highlighting the workers in the resurgent American automotive and manufacturing sector now that the auto rescue has been completed.”
But the Detroit News reports that the same plant will be closed this week due to low demand for its small gas and hybrid vehicles
Of course, boasting of the economic recovery and the automotive sector’s success while you’re speaking at a plant that’s closed due to low demand might seem like it would be a little awkward — especially if you were the dude who’s been pushing to have a million of these hybrid vehicles on the road this year. And double especially if you wound up being more than 700,000 cars short of that goal — even as buyers apparently aren’t snapping up all the cars that the sometimes-closed factory is turning out.
But apparently, these details don’t faze Obama: The plant actually informed the White House before scheduling the speech that the plant would be closed while he was giving it.
Say what you will about Obama, the dude definitely has self-confidence.
The decreased demand is partly due to falling fuel prices’ dragging down demand for fuel-efficient vehicles. Ford spokeswoman Kristina Adamski told the Detroit News that the plant usually closes for about two weeks around Christmas but is taking an extra week off to handle “capacity.”
— Katherine Timpf is a reporter at National Review Online.