It’s halftime. Both teams are in their locker room discussing what they can do to win this game in the second half.

It’s halftime in America, too. People are out of work and they’re hurting. And they’re all wondering what they’re going to do to make a comeback. And we’re all scared, because this isn’t a game.

The people of Detroit know a little something about this. They almost lost everything. But we all pulled together, now Motor City is fighting again.

I’ve seen a lot of tough eras, a lot of downturns in my life. And, times when we didn’t understand each other. It seems like we’ve lost our heart at times. When the fog of division, discord, and blame made it hard to see what lies ahead.

But after those trials, we all rallied around what was right, and acted as one. Because that’s what we do. We find a way through tough times, and if we can’t find a way, then we’ll make one.

All that matters now is what’s ahead. How do we come from behind? How do we come together? And, how do we win?

Detroit’s showing us it can be done. And, what’s true about them is true about all of us.

This country can’t be knocked out with one punch. We get right back up again and when we do the world is going to hear the roar of our engines.

Yeah, it’s halftime America. And, our second half is about to begin.

Watch below and judge for yourself. Just keep in mind that David Axelrod was moved by it, and the White House thought it made some good points. Eastwood said the ad wasn’t political in nature, at least, not to him.

Chrysler’s CEO said the ad was not political, which is total BS from a corporate perspective. When you’ve gotten several billion dollars from the government and don’t want to burn any bridges, everything is political.

Eastwood opposed the bailouts. So, why did he do the ad? Because he’s also a capitalist:

It’s halftime in America. Can taxpayers come back from a halftime deficit of $1.3 billion? No.

Bonus trivia: Footage shot specifically for Chrysler’s ad about how “Detroit is back” wasn’t even shot in Motown, but rather filmed in New Orleans and Los Angeles.

In December, Michigan Rep. John Dingell, the dusty relic who’s been in Congress so long his length of service can only be determined by carbon-14 dating, claimed the Chevy Volt is “selling like hot cakes.”

What Dingell didn’t mention is that the hot cakes in question are being sold to macrobiotics.

The Detroit News has the January sales figures for the Volt:

Washington- General Motors extended-range electric Chevrolet Volt had its worst sales month since August, as negative publicity over fire risks hurt vehicles sales in January.

GM sold just 603 Volts – above its sales in January 2011, but far below GM’s best-ever sales month in December, when GM sold 1,529 Volts.

Last week, GM North America President Mark Reuss said sales of the Volt have been hurt by bad publicity.

“Bad publicity”? Please. The Volt sales are low because there wasn’t demand for it in the first place!

Sometimes I’m inclined to believe that somebody invented the circumstances surrounding the recall (er, I mean “call back” — sorry) so they’d have an excuse to justify lousy sales on a car that has cost taxpayers a fortune.

Debra Bosanek, Warren Buffett’s longtime “secretary” who is Obama’s newest favorite stage prop in the theater of class warfare, has become the “Joe the Plumber” of the left. She’s used as an example of the put-upon 99% who struggle to make ends meet while people like her boss pay lower tax rates and make off like bandits. The fact that “all of the above” are working together on the same team is the best evidence that some kind of sham is being perpetuated.

The State of the Union speech had some comical optics. There was President Obama, spouting class warfare rhetoric and outlining how the best way to lift the proletariat out of the mud is somehow to raise taxes on the rich, all with the First Lady nodding in agreement while wearing a nearly $2,500 dress. In the First Lady’s box and serving as living proof of the human misery that has been caused by under-taxed billionaires was Buffett’s poor old secretary:

Despite a heavy tax burden, Warren Buffett’s secretary last year was able to purchase a second home in Arizona, a residence complete with a swimming pool and a “professional PGA putting green,” according to real estate records.

Debra Bosanek, 55, and her husband Gerald bought the 2100-square-foot home in Surprise, a city outside Phoenix. The Bosaneks paid $144,000 for the four-bedroom, two-and-a-half bath property (the purchase was financed, in part, by a $115,200 mortgage).

The principal Bosanek residence is in Bellevue, Nebraska, several miles from Buffett’s corporate headquarters in Omaha. The couple’s 2568-square-foot home, built in 2000, also has four bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths. But the modest property, which Sarpy County assessors last year valued at $217,716, offers no outdoor amenities for swimmers or golfers.

Buffett has said that his secretary makes $60,000 a year. The executive assistant (they obviously call her a “secretary” only for the picture it helps paint) for a billionaire? Either her job has been wildly overstated or she’s working for a little less than others in similar positions. And the tax tables would tell a different story if we’re to believe this whole tale as it’s been advertised. Of course, we also have no idea what her husband does or what he might earn, and that could also affect the tax rate if they file jointly. The point is that between these variables and the “income tax” vs. “capital gains tax” differences we’re well beyond an apples & oranges comparison. More like apples & Buicks.

I’ll go with Limbaugh on this and say that the only way the matter can be settled is to see her tax returns. ::crickets::

(h/t Jim Treacher)

Another day, another story about crony capitalism:

Warren Buffett’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC is among U.S. and Canadian railroads that stand to benefit from the Obama administration’s decision to reject TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone XL oil pipeline permit.

With modest expansion, railroads can handle all new oil produced in western Canada through 2030, according to an analysis of the Keystone proposal by the U.S. State Department.

“Whatever people bring to us, we’re ready to haul,” Krista York-Wooley, a spokeswoman for Burlington Northern, a unit of Buffett’s Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A), said in an interview. If Keystone XL “doesn’t happen, we’re here to haul.”

It’s okay though, because Buffett will no doubt send any extra profit he makes directly to the US Treasury in order to lower the national debt (pause for laughter).

Buffett was so happy about the Keystone denial that he picked up a ukulele and sang “I’ve been working on the railroad”:

Update: Guess who’s going to sit next to FLOTUS at the State of the Union speech tonight? Not Warren Buffett, but very close.

I was really excited about this at first because I thought we’d finally get a photo of Obama in the Magic Kingdom with Goofy. But sadly, Joe Biden won’t be travelling with the President this week.

Why am I guessing that this POTUS assistance will culminate in Disney going bankrupt before summertime?

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will visit Walt Disney World on Thursday to “unveil a strategy that will significantly help boost tourism and travel,” a White House aide said today.

The president will deliver his remarks inside the Magic Kingdom, with Disney’s iconic Cinderella Castle as backdrop.

That “strategy” is looser visa policies to get more visitors to places like Disney World. Loosening visa policies is not a good idea.

And of course, whenever Obama visits a state these days, Dems in toss-up districts scatter like cockroaches when the light gets switched on. Florida Democrats are offering the usual “uh, I have to re-arrange my sock drawer” excuse for missing Obama’s visit and avoiding a possible kiss of political death:

It doesn’t appear, however, that Obama will get much love from local politicians. Aides to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said the Florida Democrat was unlikely to attend because the office “got word too late” of the visit and had meetings planned in other parts of the state. And Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer is scheduled to be in Washington that day for a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

Barack Obama — the Maytag Repairman of presidents.