Obama Visits DC Auto Show

With the auto-show season in full swing, plenty of people will file into convention centers around the country to check out new cars, but none will be as famous as President Obama.

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resident Barack Obama spent some time at the Washington Auto Show this week, and perhaps predictably, he spent most of his time on the show floor ogling models made by American car companies.

Notice we didn't say cars built in America--the Chevrolet Camaro that Obama admired on the show floor is actually assembled in Canada. Still, given the controversy over the Obama administration's decision to bail out General Motors and Chrysler through managed bankruptcy plans, it's not surprising that he would spend his time admiring iron produced by the Detroit Three.

Naturally, this stirred up a bit of debate. Not only have his attackers--especially Republican front-runner Mitt Romney--been critical of the bailout, but at the DC show, Obama left some executives at foreign manufacturers feeling disappointed when he didn't spent time looking at their cars. Several foreign automakers who build cars on American soil had been asked to provide cars for the president to look at, yet Obama spent all his time looking at vehicles produced by the American makes.

President Barack Obama checked out a 2013 Ford Shelby GT500 at the Washington Auto Show in Washington, D.C.

Obama spent his time checking out such cars as the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500, the 2013 Ford Fusion, the 2013 Dodge Dart, the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1, and the Ford C-Max Energi. He also praised the American auto industry for its recovery.

The president's show tour was brief—about 20 minutes-—and according to reports, he joked about his own automotive experiences, such as being allowed to drive a Corvette one time only by a friend.

With the auto-show season in full swing, plenty of people will file into convention centers around the country to check out new cars, but none will be as famous as Obama.

[Sources: LA Times, Jalopnik, Detroit News]