Obama is making several breaks from his predecessors, including a major one: hosting weekly mini state-of-the-union addresses, outlining what’s going on in his administration, what’s he’s working on, and what he’s planning. All of this, over YouTube, which is a phenomenal feat. Many presidents dread speaking in public, but Obama relishes it, finding his stride quickly amidst all the hustle and bustle of press conferences – something that has transferred well with his acquisition of power.

Obama has been quick to denounce Bush’s failed policies and even quicker to enact his own brand of fix-em-up-stuff, applying them like bandaids to a broken arm. But even those bandaids are working somewhat, as Obama has been quick to announce that he will be supporting the auto industry through these troublesome times – which caused an audible sigh of relief throughout Detroit. But the question of how this relief – and rebuilding – will happen is still up in the air. Obama knows what needs to be done, Detroit knows what needs to be done, but neither are moving quickly on fixing anything.

GM, Ford and Chrysler, as reported before in this blog, employ over 125,000 employees, and as such if they go under (something Obama understands), all those people will be out of work. Things are moving, but slowly, and Obama knows what he needs to do – the question will be getting the bigwigs in Detroit to help him fix everything.

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With the new administration in town, it’s time to settle some scores and make sure that everyone knows that there’s a new boss, with a new agenda, and that things will be running his way, which is something that Barack Obama has certainly done so far. First with his inauguration speech, then again with his Weekly Addresses – whereas Bush was just plain afraid of the media (probably because they bombasted him every chance they got), Obama is genuinely excited to be in office and enact some change.

But $825 billion doesn’t sound like change.

With a stimulus package already going out, costing us $730 billion, what’s another $825 million to the taxpayers? But the main question – aside from “where is it coming from?” – is “will the Big Three be seeing any of it?” That’s the main question, and one that we’ve spoken about before in this here blog, but this time the question is more serious. Obama is serious about change, whereas Bush just didn’t really care what happened to the money, as long as it was spent. Will Obama be putting guidelines, regulations and rules on the money that he’s handing out, or will things go a bit different?

Another question is that, should the Big Three get some dough, will they blow it? Their CEO’s aren’t coming around any time soon, so is it possible for the compaines to fix the financial turmoil that they find themselves in? I think that a chunk of change from the government isn’t enough; they need a swift kick in the ass, too. We need to make Detroit realize that their cars just can’t compete against the foreigners, and that’s a bad thing for our economy. They need to start making better cars, because let’s face it: do you want a truck that can haul a bunch of stuff, or do you want a truck that’ll warm your hands?

That’s the latest commercial from Toyota, and it has many comparisons to Fords, Chevys, and Chryslers, with more on the way. Fact is, foreign cars are just plain better, and if Detroit wants to compete, they’ll have to make their cars better.

Well, it’s official people: we have a new president. And, as the new president, Barack Obama is working hard, making sure that we all know just how much trouble we’re in. Now, I’m not knocking on the guy – but it seems to me like there’s a lot on his plate right now, and I don’t know if the automobile industry is too high on his list of things to take care of. Between the war in Iraq (something that no one has heard too much of recently), the failing economy, and the eventual destruction of all mankind (wait…back up), Barack Obama is going to be hard pressed to find time to manage it all.

But that’s not to say he can’t. Rather, it’s going to take time, money, energy, and vast resources to get the economy back on track, and it’ll most likely take years before we’re able to safely heave a sigh of relief and laugh about what happened “all those years ago,” but when we’re back on our feet it’ll be because Barack Obama had the foresight to take things to the next level and make sure his country had the willpower and the ability to get through its darkest moments.

But will it be him?

The question posed before everyone, now that he’s in office, is: “can Barack Obama fix it?” Can he do what he has pledged to do – heal a divided nation, stop the wars in the Middle East, fix the economy – in the four years that he’s here? Or will it be someone else that comes to the rescue?

Regardless of who it is or what they do, one fact remains: the American auto industry cannot fail. GM employs hundreds of thousands of people, and if their factories were to shut down for good, bad things would happen to good people, and that’s something that we can’t have. But this whole “fixing the Big Three” idea is a two-way street; we can’t have the government supporting a failing industry that doesn’t want to change, and we can’t have a company who isn’t willing to grow be the staple of the entire Midwestern and Northern economy (for the most part, anyway). It’s bad business.

Capitalism works well, and with the rise and fall of industries comes new faces to the workforce, new businesses on Sak’s 5th Avenue, and the overall change of pace that comes with new companies. But there are some companies that, should they collapse in this free market economy that we’re riding, will tear the very fabric of it apart, and one of those companies (well, three) is the Big Three.

In today’s world, if you don’t have an MP3 jack built in to the automobiles that you’re pumping out, chances are that they aren’t selling well. The Big Three are having major problems with this, as open software is more of a rarity than a stock option on most of their vehicles. Open software will allow OEM’s and Tier 1 producers a leading edge on the market by providing things that many other auto makers can’t provide at the moment, and that’s where the most money is to be made at this point.

Software in vehicles isn’t new; from 8-track players, to on-board computer navigation systems, software has been an integral design in vehicles since the 1970’s, and things have only gotten better for American drivers (and, indeed, drivers around the world). Not only do computers run our safety features, collect data such as mileage and tell us when we need to change our oil, but they serve other purposes as well. Most cars come standard with MP3 jacks, and others don’t. In a highly sophisticated world that we live in today, the differences between the cars of today and the cars of thirty years ago are staggering.

People want their music, they want their PDA’s, they want their laptops, and many of them want them in their cars. Sure, it’s one thing to talk on your cell phone hands-free, but if you can interface with the vehicle you’re driving, surf the web, order pizza, talk to your friends, and schedule your next yoga class, all hands-free with the help of on-board computer systems and your own personal devices, chances are that you’re going to be buying that vehicle, instead of the one that doesn’t allow you to do anything.

We live in a world where multi-tasking is the norm, and if you can’t do it, you’re of no use to the business world. Why can’t we drive and do all those other things too?