GM: Can The White House Stay A Silent Partner?

The government now has a 60 percent stake in General Motors, after the automotive giant filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this week. President Obama pledged that the company's board of directors and managers, not the government, will run the company. But there are critics who say that with a 60 percent stake in GM, the government has an inherent impact on decision about GM's future — and that raises any number of conflict-of-interest issues.

Host Scott Simon talks to automotive industry expert and former editor of Car and Driver Csaba Csere about the government's stake in GM and how that may present a conflict of interest for the White House and the car company.