Some will say that the idea of Howard Dean as Car Czar is crazy, and maybe it is, but I think he could be the best choice.
In selecting a Car Czar to manage the re-organizing of GM and Chrysler, Obama will have no end of options available to him, and none of them will be perfect. There will be bean-counters and industrial managers and takeover specialists galore itching for the job, but these companies need more than a simple economic trimming; they need the guidance of someone who can envision the future of the American automobile business and get these companies to buy into that vision.
From the expansion of health care in Vermont to his use of the web for his own presidential nomination campaign to the 50-state strategy, Howard Dean has shown himself to be an individual capable of envisioning progressive change and selling that vision to stakeholders. While conservatives focus on the costs of producing cars, which is certainly a valid consideration, Dean would also take into consideration labor, environmental, health care, and fuel economy issues from the progressive perspective. The fact that he would almost certainly tick off a few people along the way would be a bonus.
If Howard Dean could do for Detroit what he has done for the Democratic Party, we would see vastly different kinds of companies emerge from crisis, building cars that race us to the future instead of tie us to the past.