The Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant had a special guest last Friday, as President Barack Obama stopped by to check in. The President mentioned that the Detroit-Hamtramck facility may not even be here if the government didn’t intervene:

“Of course, if some folks had their way, none of this would be happening at all. This plant might not exist. There were leaders of the ‘just say no’ crowd in Washington who argued that standing by the auto industry would guarantee failure. They said we should just walk away and let these jobs go. Today, the men and women in this plant are proving these cynics wrong.”

Obama also talked about the auto industry choices with which he was presented:

“On one hand, we could have continued the practice of handing out billions of taxpayer dollars to the auto industry with no real strings attached. On the other hand, we could have walked away and allowed two major auto companies to go out of business — which could have wiped out 1 million American jobs.”

Since GM has exited bankruptcy, the company is down to four brands, is expected to report a second quarter profit on August 10, and is getting ready to offer an IPO at the end of the year.

President Obama also took a Chevy Volt for a quick drive that lasted a whopping of 40 feet. The President’s thoughts on the car?

“Pretty smooth.”