“If General Motors, Ford and Chrysler get the bailout that their chief executives asked for yesterday, you can kiss the American automotive industry goodbye.”  So wrote Mitt Romney in his 2008 New York Times editorial entitled “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” in which he warned against auto industry bailouts then being requested by industry executives.

Fortunately for car companies, their huge ecosystem and the many jobs that come with it, President Obama did not follow Mr. Romney’s prescription.

On Tuesday, Chrysler repaid U.S. taxpayers $5.1 billion.  General Motors is profitable and the sales champ in China.  Ford is making money hand over fist, posting their best Q1 numbers since 1998.  And although Ford never took bailout money, failures at GM and Chrysler would have crushed many of Ford’s suppliers.  That in turn would have caused production delays at a critical time in their turnaround.

Of course, the bailouts began with the Bush administration, but recall that Barack Obama, in a meeting with President Bush, urged him to bail out Ford and GM.

To promote President Obama’s wisdom and successful rescue of the auto industry, the DNC has released a video.