The White House basically ended their efforts at passing an additional stimulus – defining stimulus as funding to increase demand that’s not offset – a while ago. Their strategy for the elections seems to be to cast their past decisions in a positive light, and highlight successes, contrasting with Republicans who wanted them to do nothing. That can only go so far in a time of 9.5% unemployment. But in certain cases, the argument can be compelling.

Today, the President went to Detroit and touted the resurrection of the auto industry as a successful intervention by the government, which saved at least a million jobs and created even more, as well as putting an iconic American industry back on a path to profitability. The President even leveraged the intervention by increasing fuel economy significantly – in partnership with the industry – and promoting cleaner vehicle technologies like lithium-ion batteries and electric cars, moving the industry forward while saving it at the same time.

In interviews and in a report issued on Thursday, ahead of the president’s trip to Michigan, Mr. Obama’s advisers argue that had the president not invested more than $60 billion into General Motors and Chrysler, more than a million jobs would have been lost. Instead, they say, 334,000 jobs disappeared from June 2008 to June 2009, a period that ends shortly after the bailout began. And 55,000 new workers have been hired since.

White House officials project that the cost to taxpayers will most likely turn out to be minimal — just as with the banks’ bailout — and it is still possible taxpayers may even see a small profit [...]

Both companies and Ford each posted profits in the first quarter, the first time that has happened in a quarter since 2004. G.M. has already repaid a $6.7 billion loan and it is talking about going public in the fourth quarter, a move that would give the government a way to slowly sell its majority stake in the company’s stock.

Nine of G.M.’s 11 plants, including the Hamtramck, Mich., facility that Mr. Obama is to visit on Friday, canceled the usual summer shutdowns to keep up with consumer demand, and G.M. and Chrysler have added shifts.

I don’t mind the President taking credit for this one, though I don’t know how successful the strategy will be – people generally look at the economic situation in front of their face in making their electoral decisions, not the situation relative to what could have hypothetically happened. Nevertheless, it is the case that Republicans wanted to eliminate over a million good union jobs, and thought the President was wrong to step in to Chrysler and GM. I think the jury’s still out on Chrysler, but in GM’s case this has been a positive turnaround. Not only that, but the support for next-gen technologies in transportation has led to some innovation outside the Big Three – witness Tesla Motors’ IPO.

The President made two sets of remarks today at two separate Chrysler plants in the Detroit area, and he framed the argument pretty well. This is from the Jefferson North plant in Detroit:

So the bottom line is this — we’ve got a long way to go, but we’re beginning to see some of these tough decisions pay off. We are moving forward.

I want you to remember, though, if some folks had their way, none of this would have been happening. I just want to point that out. Right? I mean this — this plant — this plant and your jobs might not exist. There were leaders of the “just say no” crowd in Washington — they were saying — oh, standing by the auto industry would guarantee failure. One of them called it “the worst investment you could possibly make.”

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: They said — they said we should just walk way and let those jobs go.

AUDIENCE: Boo!

THE PRESIDENT: I wish they were standing here today. (Applause.) I wish they could see what I’m seeing in this plant and talk to the workers who are here taking pride in building a world-class vehicle. I don’t think they’d be willing to look you in the eye and say that you were a bad investment. They might just come around if they were standing here and admit that by standing by a great American industry and the good people who work for it, that we did the right thing. It’s hard for them to say that. You know, they like admitting when I do the right thing. (Laughter.) But they might have had to admit it. And I want all of you to know, I will bet on the American worker any day of the week! (Applause.)

He made similar remarks at a separate GM plant in Hamtramck, where he “test-drove” a Chevy Volt about 10 feet.

I think sometimes you have to lay the foundation for future successes by describing the current ones. I’m sure it’s not been 100% great, and I’m interested to see what Marcy, who’s closer to the situation, has to say about it, but I’m happy to applaud the Administration for doing the right thing in this case.

UPDATE: Good take from Jed Lewison on this, who asks simply, “If the auto intervention worked, why not do more of it?”