Ford's CEO, Alan Mulally, introduced a new line of alternative fuel cars to President Bush at the White House recently, however, after making a joke questioning the president's competence the CEO is now having to apologize. On the White House lawn Mulally demonstrated the new innovations in hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, hybrids, and electric cars to President Bush and reporters. For publicity Mulally allowed Bush to plug in the hydrogen fuel car which has an electric port at the front and the hydrogen port in the back. At the Ford New York auto show Alan Mulally told reporters that he had to hurry along side the president and break protocol by pulling Bush's arm toward the correct port to ensure that he would not try and put the electric plug into the hydrogen fuel port and cause a massive explosion. The next day headlines were calling Mulally a national hero for potentially saving the president's life. Later, Mulally insisted that there are a number of safety precautions that would inhibit such a catastrophe, but none the less he was remorseful for making the comment that pointed out Bush's sub-par IQ level. Mulally issued his apology stating that from now on he would leave the jokes to the comedians.
Below is a link where you can watch a report CNN did on the incident. Go to the link and click on the video titled, Car Bomb, Bush Joke Makes Ford CEO Say Sorry.
http://www.cnn.com/
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2 comments:
This seems really cheap in all arenas, especially in business. The president of Ford should know that in order to be president, you may or may not know what you are doing in the position. However, your primary objective, as the president, is to show the public that you know what is best for them because you know everything there is to know about the product. Therefore, even if the U.S. president does not know about alternative fuel, a joke at him while promoting your product is very cheap and a poor choice because he needs the president's support.
You would think that Bush would know where to plug the port in or at least someone could tell him the directions before this demonstration. It's a good thing that he broke protocol at the cost of making the president look bad than having a big explosion. And it's a shame that this little incident draws attention away from the main objective of the demonstration and that is to convey the benefits of using hydrogen fuel cell cars.
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