Whereupon The Author Engages In Honest Self-Appraisal

Take it away, David Sanger.

As a sitting president and a president-elect maneuver over how to bail out Detroit – and ultimately how to convince the Big Three to radically change their ways -- there may be some instructive lessons in the Middle East peace process.

The Middle East? At first blush it may seem a bit farfetched.

A bit? At first blush? Everyone in the world blushing at the same time wouldn't make this analogy make sense. I'd think you'd have to blush so many times that blood would start shooting out of your cheeks.

The analogy, granted, is imperfect.

No, the jeans I got at the outlet mall with one leg longer than the other are imperfect. The "Dolex" watch I got in Chinatown is imperfect. Giotti's "perfect circle" was imperfect. This analogy is retarded.

Already, I hear some skepticism:

Thank God, I have listed here thirty-five different ways this comparison makes no sense and --

In the Mideast, the negotiations are all about survival – which is why no one is willing to give ground. But in the Midwest, isn’t there broad agreement about what where the industry needs to head?

Or ... you know ... maybe ... the fact that auto companies are not killing each other? That gross mismanagement of three corporations is not comparable to a centuries-old religious and geopolitical struggle? That the fight for control of the automobile market share did not sow seeds of modern terrorism? That sort of thing, perhaps?

Oh, and would the UAW be Hamas in this metaphor?

Is Syria Toyota?

When asked to play Devil's Advocate, does David Sanger totally agree with everything you're saying except for one minor detail?