Job security is important to everybody. But the government didn’t come to the rescue of other companies that were failing. The government came to GM’s rescue and let other companies die because there were millions of votes at stake in the rustbelt states of Ohio and Michigan and a union state like Pennsylvania.

Consider these comments from USA Today:

“As far as President Obama is concerned, Ohio is the car capital of the world — the political car capital, anyway.

“Obama has been driving the auto bailout issue hard in this vital state that in many ways holds the key to his re-election bid against Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

“Expect to hear more about it Monday as Obama campaigns in Cincinnati and Columbus, arguing that the auto bailout is fueling economic recovery in Ohio.

‘The American auto industry supports one in eight jobs in this state,’ Obama said during a Sept. 3 visit to Toledo, and it was ‘flat-lining’ when he took office.”

Obama knew that Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania would be key electoral states in 2012. By pumping $50 billion dollars into GM and all the subsidiary companies that fed the auto industry, he would ensure that these states would vote for him again in 2012.

But it’s all smoke and mirrors, at least for Ohio. It’s true that jobs are surging in Ohio, but it’s not because of the bailout.

“Republican Gov. John Kasich, citing the Bureau of Labor Statistics, told USA TODAY that his state has added 122,300 jobs since he took office in early 2011, but only 1,200 of them are ‘auto jobs.’”

Kasich makes the point that the Obama administration and his fellow Democrats have created obstacles to job growth, what he called “economic ‘headwinds’” that “have had a smothering effect on business” and “paralyzed the job creators.”

Even so, it seems that Obama’s strategy is working. “Statistics aside, there is evidence suggesting that Ohio voters are giving Obama credit for an improved economy, and for the auto bailout. A recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll gave Obama a 7-point lead — 50%–43% — over Romney in this key swing state.”

What many people in Ohio don’t want to admit is that whatever jobs were saved, it cost American tax payers $50 billion dollars. Talk about buying an election. Obama started his purchase of votes in 2009 with our own money.