• Los Angeles Times, Wednesday, June 3, 2009 11 AM

Even as General Motors launches a national TV campaign today to convince American consumers that it will see the "rebirth of the American car," a dozen top officials in the Obama administration are out in the hustings spreading a message of hope in communities hard hit by GM's bankruptcy, Jim Puzzanghera and P.J. Huffstutter report.

The TV ads that break today tout bankruptcy as the path to a "leaner, greener, faster, smarter" company. Selling or closing brands and paring 42% of its dealers is bound to have an effect on sales, company executives acknowledge. But to avoid sliding further, it's important for GM to assure consumers that buying a GM car isn't a risk, advertising experts say.

The message from administration officials scattered from Ypsilanti, Mich., to Fort Wayne, Ind., has a harder edge than GM's gauzy images of rebirth: The car is no longer king of American manufacturing, Puzzanghera and Huffstutter write. The future, the administration is telling workers, depends on developing green industry. So far, it's proving to be a tough sell to angry workers."

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