I would hope that people are able to hold more than one thought at a time.
Here it goes:
In October of 2008, President George Bush agreed to loan the Automakers money to operate until March of 2009. the condition of this loan was they had to come up with a viable plan of operations, or pay back the loan money. (ford declined the money)
March arrived, and the automakers presented the plans, they were so out of touch, and had grossly over estimated profits in the next year that they were rejected. GM was really bad off, since they have been operating at a loss for the last 5 years.
According to the original deal, the automaker should have been filing bankruptcy now. however, Obama gave GM capital to operate for an additional 90 days, and originally was going to let Chrysler file for bankruptcy. however Chrysler spoke with Fiat (who is also facing bankruptcy, but has more capital) about a merger. this plan was presented, and Obama agreed to give Chrysler operating capital for an additional 30 days.
Now somehow this has all been into "Obama is taking over the car companies". not true, but it is sink or swim time for them especially GM.
Note: during this time the last 5 years, both Chrysler and GM have continued to close factories in the US, and open new factories in Mexico.