OBAMA’S INCREDIBLE MOVIE MAKEOVER

 

This is an extremely informative and interesting article about the subject of Obama’s first film that he and Michele  produced with Netflix.  As you will read, the author of this article is very critical of the part that Obama played in the original closing of this GM plant during the 2008/2009 financial crisis which Obama does not mention at all in his movie .  Talk about chutzpah !!!
I have included the official trailer of this movie and a link to view the entire movie at the bottom of this WSJ article.   Nancy
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Obama’s Incredible Movie Makeover

The former president has produced a film about a factory closing—without mentioning his own role in the drama

By Mike Turner,  Mr. Turner, a Republican, represents Ohio’s 10th Congressional District.  He served as mayor of Dayton , 1994 – 2002
September 14, 2019
EXCERPT FROM THIS ARTICLE:  It’s a fascinating and at times moving film. What’s interesting about it, though, is that it never once alludes to the part Mr. Obama played in diminishing the ability of Moraine’s laid off workers to transfer to other GM plants. The president’s role wasn’t indirect and isn’t a matter of dispute: His administration’s bailout deal for GM included a backroom exclusive agreement with the United Auto Workers. The hypocrisy of this Obama-backed film is astounding. Mr. Obama fails to acknowledge his direct role in creating the hardships the Moraine workers weathered. He had nothing whatsoever to do with the plant’s reopening—that was all the work of state and local officials and community leaders.

To put the point bluntly: If the president had his way, there would have been no plant to make a documentary about. “American Factory” would have been “Abandoned Parking Lot.”

Higher Ground, the production company formed last year by Barack and Michelle Obama in conjunction with Netflix, recently released its first film. “American Factory” is a documentary about a General Motors plant in Moraine, Ohio, a suburb of Dayton. The plant closed in 2008 and was reopened by a Chinese auto glass manufacturer in 2015. The film follows the lives of both the laid-off American workers and the Chinese workers brought in to run the new plant.

It’s a fascinating and at times moving film. What’s interesting about it, though, is that it never once alludes to the part Mr. Obama played in diminishing the ability of Moraine’s laid off workers to transfer to other GM plants. The president’s role wasn’t indirect and isn’t a matter of dispute: His administration’s bailout deal for GM included a backroom exclusive agreement with the United Auto Workers.

How does a nearly two-hour film telling the story of these workers fail even to mention the direct role the co-owner of the film’s production company played in creating their hardships? Did the filmmakers think no one would remember?

A quick refresher. The Obama administration’s auto bailout highly favored the UAW and its members. The GM plant in Moraine was unionized by the IUE-CWA. So—despite being one of the top GM facilities for quality, efficiency and production in the country—it was shuttered, and its employees were put at the back of the line when requesting transfers to other GM plants. Any non-UAW employees looking to transfer were forced to start as new hires, wiping clean any wages, tenure, and benefits built up during careers at other GM plants.

American Factory” documents the UAW’s efforts to unionize the reopened auto glass factory without any mention of the same union’s direct role in the GM plant’s closure. The Dayton community was left out in the cold—thousands of jobs lost, families devastated, longtime GM workers out on the street looking for work.

In the GM bankruptcy proceeding, the Obama administration was prepared to allow the Moraine facility to be demolished and sold for scraps. But in August 2010, Sen. Sherrod Brown and I—along with other lawmakers of both parties—called on the Obama administration to step in and save the plant. The administration’s initial response was disbelief. Did we really think a company would ever come back and use it for manufacturing again? I did. Many in the community did. Which is why there’s a thriving factory there now.

In the Obama economy, investment was tough to come by. With a punitive and outdated tax code, international investment was nearly impossible to attract. State and local officials—especially Moraine Mayor Elaine Allison —worked relentlessly and were able to convince a Chinese manufacturer to invest in and rebuild this once-great factory. Today that company employs several thousand people in what was its start-up operation in America.

Of course, none of this took away the suffering endured by the community. My father worked at GM for 44 years, including at the Moraine GM factory campus, and was a member of the IUE-CWA. In Mr. Obama’s GM bailout, he lost his health insurance coverage. So did many other retirees.

The hypocrisy of this Obama-backed film is astounding. Mr. Obama fails to acknowledge his direct role in creating the hardships the Moraine workers weathered. He had nothing whatsoever to do with the plant’s reopening—that was all the work of state and local officials and community leaders.

To put the point bluntly: If the president had his way, there would have been no plant to make a documentary about. “American Factory” would have been “Abandoned Parking Lot.”

Mr. Turner, a Republican, represents Ohio’s 10th Congressional District. He served as mayor of Dayton, 1994-2002.

 

 

OBAMA’S NEW PRODUCTION COMPANY, HIGHER GROUND – Their new film, American Factory  – OFFICIAL TRAILER

American Factory | Official Trailer | Netflix

Cultures collide. Hope survives. When a Chinese billionaire re-opens a factory and hires two thousand blue-collar Americans, early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America. Watch American Factory, Only on Netflix:
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