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Iacocca Bashes Bush in New Book
By Gordon Trowbridge
The Detroit News
Thursday 12 April 2007
Ex-Chrysler CEO also rips Congress, but
the harshest criticism goes to president's leadership.
Washington - Lee Iacocca, author of the original business management best-seller,
is giving President Bush an "F" in leadership.
In a book to be released Tuesday, the former Chrysler CEO - who supported
Bush's first campaign in 2000 but backed Sen. John Kerry four years later -
accused Bush of leading the nation to war "on a pack of lies" and
lacking the basic components of good leadership.
"I think our current President should visit the real world once in a while,"
Iacocca writes, according to excerpts from "Where Have All the Leaders
Gone?" released on the Web site of publisher Simon & Schuster.
The book, co-written by New York journalist Catherine Whitney, comes 23 years
after Iacocca's best-selling autobiography "Iacocca," which reshaped
the way the publishing industry viewed business books. USA Today recently ranked
the book among the 25 most influential among publishers and readers over the
past 25 years.
In addition to politics, Iacocca weighs in on his experiences at Chrysler and
the future of the U.S. auto industry in typically blunt fashion.
His latest broadside is in character, said Matthew Seeger, chairman of the
communication department of Wayne State University and author of a book on Iacocca's
speeches.
"As he's gotten older, he's gotten more blunt, more willing to take stands
on issues," Seeger said.
But tough words from Iacocca may not carry the same weight they once did, said
David Cole, director of the Center for Automotive Research at the University
of Michigan.
"Some people might have some awfully harsh criticism of Lee Iacocca, too,"
Cole said.
Despite his stature as the savior of Chrysler in the 1980s, Cole said, other
events, including his failed bid with Kirk Kerkorian to take over the company
in the 1990s, have diminished his clout.
Iacocca has described himself as a political independent, and his new book
is the latest twist in political history that includes a brief flirtation with
his own run for president. He had a close relationship with Democrat Gov. James
Blanchard and President Reagan during his time at Chrysler; he made ads for
President Bush in 2000 but made campaign appearances with Kerry four years later;
and he made more ads, this time for GOP gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos,
last year.
"Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening?"
Iacocca writes. "Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming
bloody murder. We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state
right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we
can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead
of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians
say, 'Stay the course.'"
Disdain for Washington is nothing new from Iacocca, said Gerald Meyers, former
chairman of American Motors and a business professor at the University of Michigan.
Recalling a trip to talk to lawmakers in the 1970s about the Clean Air Act,
Meyers said, Iacocca had little regard for politicians.
"Zero respect. Nada. No respect whatsoever," Meyers said.
Iacocca has tough things to say about Congress, corporate America, the press
and even the voters who put the nation's current leadership in power. But his
harshest criticism is saved for Bush.
- He savages Bush's famous determination: "George Bush prides himself
on never changing, even as the world around him is spinning out of control.
God forbid someone should accuse him of flip-flopping," Iacocca writes.
"There's a disturbingly messianic fervor to his certainty."
- He accuses Bush of substituting macho for courage: "Swagger isn't courage.
Tough talk isn't courage. Courage in the twenty-first century doesn't mean posturing
and bravado. Courage is a commitment to sit down at the negotiating table and
talk."
- And he scoffs at Bush's business-degree background: "Thanks to our first
MBA President, we've got the largest deficit in history, Social Security is
on life support, and we've run up a half-a-trillion-dollar price tag (so far)
in Iraq. And that's just for starters."
White House spokesman Alex Conant said he had not seen the book. "We don't
do book reviews at the White House," he said.
Simon & Schuster says the book will also include Iacocca's thoughts on
how U.S. businesses can compete with rising economies in China and India. And
he calls for government action to address the massive health care costs facing
the Detroit's automakers and other U.S. businesses.
"Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can
restore our competitive edge in manufacturing," he writes. "Who would
have believed that there could ever be a time when 'the Big Three' referred
to Japanese car companies?
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