In the recent Super Bowl commercial from Chrysler, the venerable Clint Eastwood declares “It’s halftime in America. And our second half is about to begin.”
The car advert focuses on Detroit as an example of the perseverance at the heart of the nation. The Motor City is presented as a symbol of burgeoning jobs and growing industry. And it is depicted on the up and up.
But let’s not pretend for one second the city of Detroit is leading the economy toward recovery. If anything, the opposite is true.
Detroit is a currently a contradiction. It is listed as a recovering housing market, when in truth the singularity of its awfulness is, in fact, dragging the rest of the nation’s housing with it.
Critics are charging the ad is overtly political. If so, I’m not sure it would be wise for a candidate for presidency of the United States to associate himself with a message wrongly depicting Detroit as an economic bellwether.
Nor should the citizens of Detroit wish to do the same. After all, there are no other cities that received a disproportionally low amount of federal help (outside the auto juggernaut aid packages) and attention as the suffering homeowners in Detroit. A truth evident by its state of housing.
jgaffney@housingwire.com
