Bush calls Bill Ford

It came as a surprise to read on Bloomberg's website that "the President and Mr. Ford are friends." We don't know why this made us do a double take, but it's nice to know that some form of direct communication is taking place between Washington and an automaker.
According to the article, President Bush phoned Mr. Ford while in route to a fund-raiser in Detroit and although Bush's spokesperson wouldn't elaborate on what was discussed, she did say that the phone conversation only lasted a few minutes. We think it's safe to assume that the topic at hand was FoMoCo's recent personnel changes.

We reported earlier on an uproar among the heads of the Big two-point-five, when they discovered that Bush would be making a campaign appearance in their home town, but had not (re)scheduled any meetings with the automakers. Judging by the information revealed to Bloomberg, the conversation between the two men sought to solidify the administration's promise of a meeting after mid-term elections.

We're eagerly anticipating the outcome of that meeting, if and when it happens.

Related Links:

• Bill Ford Jr. calls for energy summit
• Bush and automakers delay meeting
• Wagoner critical of fed's lack of action
• President set to address automakers, again

(FYI - Due to the unfortunate comments made by some readers in a related post, comments have been disabled for this article. Our apologies to those of you that enjoy a civil exchange of ideas.)