Not enough people smell a rat when it comes to Obama's manipulation of the Chrysler bankruptcy--certainly not with "owned lackeys" making up most of the media. Here are a few journalists and one pol who can explain why the Obama takeover of Chrysler is so bad for our country.

Michael Barone:

Think carefully about what’s happening here. The White House, presumably car czar Steven Rattner and deputy Ron Bloom, is seeking to transfer the property of one group of people to another group that is politically favored [the UAW]. In the process, it is setting aside basic property rights in favor of rewarding the United Auto Workers for the support the union has given the Democratic Party. The only possible limit on the White House’s power is the bankruptcy judge, who might not go along.

Timothy P. Carney:

So, here’s the arrangement: You pay your taxes, the Obama administration funnels some of the money to Chrysler, whose profits enrich the UAW, which in turn funds Obama’s re-election.

Newt Gingrich:

Under the Obama Administration, the Chrysler bankruptcy has become a political process in which government has bought off some creditors, demonized others, and predetermined a favorable result for an important political constituency.

What happened last week with Chrysler was an unprecedented case of executive branch involvement in a bankruptcy proceeding.  The Obama Administration bullied smaller investors to fall in line with TARP-funded creditors in a deal that ultimately benefited the union bosses who bear so much of the responsibility for Chrysler’s downfall to begin with.  In the end, the losers weren’t just the secured creditors and the taxpayers who have footed the bill for all these bailouts, but the rule of law itself.

John Carney:

Politicized lending has always been said to be a theoretical danger of government investment in banks. But the speed with which political control has really taken hold is nothing short of breathtaking. At the very first crisis, we've seen banking decisions controlled by government. And the success of the government in the Chrysler case means that this is not the end point of politicized finance, it is just the beginning. We should expect Chrysler to serve as a model for a new kind of public-private partnership going forward.

Mickey Kaus:

And there is something creepy in the way many analysts simply accept that, of course, banks receiving TARP funds must now do Obama's bidding on unrelated matters like the Chrysler bankruptcy.

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"Creepy" isn't the half of it.