President-elect Barack Obama is already looking to have a major impact on the tech industry, pushing internet privacy laws and initiatives that would prevent bandwidth caps and open white space.  Now he may have an even bigger impact on U.S. automakers.

Barack Obama joined those critical of GM, Ford, and Chrysler's key management, saying that top U.S. auto executives should resign for poor management of their companies.  While a strong supporter of the bailout bill, President-elect Obama has repeatedly stated that there is a need for major change in the U.S. automakers business plan.  He voiced his suggestion that the executives resign on "Meet the Press".

Congressional Democrat, Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, and friend of the President-elect, filled in the blanks saying that Rick Wagoner, the chief executive of General Motors Corp, had to "move on".  Sen. Dodd made the statement when speaking on "Face the Nation".

The criticism brings an intriguing question -- the Big Three's auto executives have said that they would do anything to get a bailout, even cutting their salaries to $1/year, but would they forfeit their job entirely to save their companies?  Surely this is an unsettling question to Mr. Wagoner and others, but it may be one that they must face, as Congressional pressure mounts, particularly if they want a long term bailout.

A shorter term $15B USD bailout bill that would help keep GM and Chrysler in business is close to passing, as the Bush administration and the Democratic congress have reached an apparent compromise.  However, key obstacles remain that could prevent it from passing entirely.

One key argument is that Democrats want to be able to pursue Chrysler's owners Cerebus if the company still goes under and defaults on the bailout loan.  The Bush administration opposes this.

The second sticking point is that Democrats want to forbid car companies from suing their states over emissions standards.  The Bush administration opposes this provision as well.  A senior administration official stated, "My expectation is that provision will not be in the bill when it comes to the floor, and if it is in there when the bill comes to the floor, my expectation is the bill will not succeed."

If the bailout does pass, the car companies will be under strict surveillance.  A new "car czar" will be appointed and any expenditure over $100M USD will have to be government approved.  Further, the companies will have to submit a plan to repay their loans, and if they fail to do so the car czar will submit their own plan for them; and the car czar's plan could include bankruptcy.