Bloggers React to Obama's Plan for GM, Rick Wagoner, and Afghanistan

Our daily look at stories and topics that are lighting up the Internets:

Obama's Auto Plan

Obama is now in the driver's seat after this morning's speech on the administration's plan for the auto industry. Speech and summary available here. Jonathan Cohn writes a before-the-fact blogpost on what to look for in Obama's speech. Liberal Marc Ambinder isn't unhappy with the plan: "All of this is fine. The government is telling GM to be like Toyota. But what if the industry's infection is just too widespread?" Liberal Paul Glastris thinks Obama's actions are dangerously similar to the government takeover of failing railroads in the '70s. Glastris draws this lesson from the historical parallel: "As the automakers return to Washington for a second round of assistance, the greatest danger may well be not that government will intervene too much, but that it won't intervene enough." And this liberal blogger is fine with the auto plan but still furious at Obama's strategy for Wall Street.

Wagoner Out

An overwhelming amount of talk on the auto plans centered upon former GM CEO Rick Wagoner, who the Obama administration forced into stepping down. Conservatives are very, very unhappy with what they view as the government irresponsibly regulating corporate behavior. Conservative Mark Steyn sees the Wagoner development as a slippery slope: "You'd be surprised how painlessly and smoothly once-free peoples slip from government 'investing' to government control." Keep your knickers on, responds Tony Campbell: "If the automotive industry wants to put its hand out for money, it is going to have to play the game under Obama's terms." Conservative Philip Klein is disturbed: "Once taxpayer money is put on the line to save these companies, it gives the government the ability to make unprecedented interventions into the way private businesses are run." Harvard Prof. Rosabeth Moss Kanter is surprised Wagoner lasted as long as he did. She writes: "When organizations are in trouble, transformational change almost inevitably requires new leadership at the top."

Digesting Af-Pak

As we wrote on Friday, everyone was eager to give their two cents on the president's plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Now that a weekend has passed since his announcement, bloggers are giving more thoughtful responses. Conservative Rich Lowry just returned from Afghanistan, and is both nervous and confident about Obama's plan. Will Inboden writes this long post on the Af-Pak strategy, highlighting the absence of any plan to combat jihadism in the region. Military experts Sam Gardiner and Erik Leaver think Obama is digging the country deeper into a hole we're already stuck in. Liberal Stephen Herrington doesn't believe the war in Afghanistan is anything like Vietnam, while Michael Singh thinks everyone should turn their focus to Iran. And Kayla Williams posts this piece on veteran unemployment.

... Meanwhile ...

Krugman vs. Obama heats up... Muammar Gaddafi tells a summit of Arab leaders he is "the dean of the Arab rulers, the king of kings of Africa, and the imam (leader) of Muslims"... Xenophobia rising in Ukraine... Plus: the evolution of vampires.