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Of President Obama's stated goals for the taxpayers' investment in General Motors--"To get G.M. back on its feet, take a hands-off approach and get out quickly"--the middle one is likely to work against those at either end. The government can't hope to fix G.M. and sell it off without getting under the hood. Over decades now of restructuring plans at the company, two things have demonstrably not helped get much done: Money and time. The government can't simply give more of each to the automaker. What's needed is forceful, even ruthless, leadership to insist on the changes that everyone--the managers, the union leadership, the dealers, everyone--has known were necessary for about 20 years now.

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