Politics & Power Quote by Jennifer M. Granholm

A politician’s tell is often in what they refuse to dignify as a choice, and Granholm’s brusque “I don’t care whether they’re American cars, or international cars” is exactly that kind of refusal. In the middle of an auto downturn, she’s trying to drag the conversation away from the usual flag-wrapped consumer morality play - buy domestic, be patriotic - and back to the more frightening baseline: people aren’t buying anything. The real disease isn’t brand preference; it’s stalled demand.

The line “layered upon the lack of consumer confidence” does two jobs at once. It frames the auto industry’s crisis as structural rather than self-inflicted, and it quietly assigns the culprit to the broader economy: credit markets, job insecurity, household fear. “Consumer confidence” is political code that sounds psychological but points to macro conditions government can plausibly address. It also avoids naming villains inside the industry (management, product strategy, labor fights) while still admitting the problem is “layered,” meaning messy, compounded, and not solvable by a single bailout headline.

Context matters: Granholm governed Michigan, where auto is identity, payroll, and political oxygen. Her stance reads like a governor trying to speak to two audiences at once: anxious autoworkers who want immediate relief, and a national public tired of being scolded into shopping. The subtext is strategic humility: no amount of patriotic messaging can substitute for liquidity and security. If people feel broke, they don’t “choose” cars; they postpone them.