The Patriot Post® · Toyota's Marvelous Lesson

I watched maybe five minutes of the Congressional “roast” of the BP oil company Thursday of last week and, in doing so, wasted maybe five minutes of my day. I saw a pompous politician, who obviously knows virtually nothing about oil-well fittings, trying to further humiliate BP’s already-butchered Tony Hayward, and, in a word, the whole thing was “pointless.”

There is no doubt among any of us by now that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill will go down as perhaps the greatest man-made disaster of our time, this right behind the guy who invented the cigarette, a paper-wrapped tobacco device that still kills a half-million Americans every year.

The oil spill is awful; I hurt for the millions of people and animals who are now so helpless. But put me down as one whose arm is tired of throwing rocks and who believes all would be better served in searching for solutions rather than scapegoats.

Today you’ll read that more of the same pompous politicos are slamming Hayward for attending a yacht race with his son, calling his weekend trip to the Isle of Wright “the height of arrogance.” But – wait – weren’t we told on Friday last week by BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg the day-to-day operations were being doled out to another guy, Bob Dudley?

That’s my point; there is so much hysteria and grandstanding but I believe the American public and its elected leaders would be far-better served if they would shelve their panic. In doing so, they should study the marvelous lesson Toyota taught all of us less than six months ago.

You’ll remember when Toyota dominated the nation’s headlines and networks in February when it was feared many Toyota automobiles had accelerator problems. You’ll remember that 850,000 cars were recalled and that a Tennessee woman tearfully told Congress that when her Lexus went 100 miles an hour, she called her husband on a cell phone to say goodbye.

Oh my goodness, it was so heady that Toyota’s top man, Akio Toyoda, was hauled before a fiery Congressional committee and bullied unmercifully. He apologized, saying he was “deeply sorry” which gave the union-fed politicians their pound of flesh, and, duly shamed, returned to Japan. There he immediately held a huge company rally.

“Let’s go with high spirits, have fun, and be confident while staying humble,” Toyoda said, choking up and wearing a gray workman’s jacket, “We are making a start today.”

So what has happened since? Last month, in May, Toyota sold 162,813 vehicles in the United States and this year, despite the sluggish economy, analysts agree Toyota will sell more vehicles than any other company in both the United States and the entire world.

In short, back in February when critics were running amok, Toyota focused on solutions, not the cries led by Congressmen whose campaign coffers are stuffed with union dollars yet whose districts have empty and idle car assembly plants. Please, rancor-filled rhetoric serves no purpose at all.

Now here’s the shady part of the story; a couple of weeks ago General Motors recalled 1.5 million vehicles due to a potential fire hazard. Have you seen any headlines, any tearful testimonies, any Congressional hearings? Could it be that’s because the largest majority owner of GM is the U.S. government and the biggest minority stake is the United Auto Workers?

Well, at the same time Congress was bashing BP last week, the new head of the United Auto Workers vowed to “pound Toyota” as part of a stepped-up campaign to bring union representation to factories operated by Asian automakers in the United States.

UAW President Bob King is now promising to bring protesters, including retirees whose retirements are economically threatened, to picket outside Toyota dealerships with banners charging that the automaker puts “Profits Before People.”

Great golly, can’t the UAW see the problem here? The union, as well as the rest of us, needs to see the solution is best said with the pledge: “Let’s go with high spirits, have fun, and be confident while staying humble.”

Any fool can see history proves the UAW has nothing to offer a Toyota production-line worker today except a headache and a broken promise. At the same time, the last thing our country needs in helping to solve the oil-spill crisis is the only things those in Congress can lend to the melee – a headache and broken promises.

I say get out of the muck and mire. Resign from “The Legion of the Miserable.” Let BP’s Tony Hayward spend a day on the boat with his kid, taking a much-needed deep breath. C'mon, let’s hold hands and get this oil leak stopped instead of acting like a sore-headed bunch of losers whose quibbling will only result in further agony.

Let’s heed and savor Toyota’s marvelous lesson. Let’s “make a start today.”