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Obama Says We Cannot Let Big Three Fail

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama scolded the domestic carmakers Tuesday night for “years of bad decision making,” but said “the nation that invented the automobile cannot walk away from it.”

In a speech to a joint session of Congress, the new president offered no details as to how he would help the industry restructure, and no promise to grant the billions of dollars in new aid that General Motors and Chrysler seek.

But it was his strongest commitment yet to preserving the companies that have defined Michigan’s economy and identity for a century.

“We are committed to the goal of a re-tooled, re-imagined auto industry that can compete and win,” he said. “Millions of jobs depend on it.”