Column: Don't let Jeep sideshow hide Romney's growth plan

• Mitt Romney has a plan to revitalize the auto industry.
• Focus is lower taxes, less regulation and cheaper energy.
• Barack Obama had the chance to fix things, but didn't act.

There has been a lot said by the politicians about the auto industry lately including on the managed bankruptcy of GM and Chrysler all the way to Chrysler's plans to produce Jeep models in this country as well as to return production of Jeeps to China to meet local demand.

But politicizing these issues misses the point we need to think about as Americans. Every car company on the planet needs to focus on the market to try to best serve its customers. It needs the best products, the highest quality and the most competitive costs, and should go to whatever markets it chooses to serve. But here is where the politicians come in. What they can do is feverishly participate in a global competition among countries to make our country the most attractive location for production, thus bringing the best jobs to our people.

Governor Romney understands this. As president, he would take the steps to make the U.S. auto industry more competitive.

His all-of-the-above energy policy will unleash an abundant supply of affordable, reliable domestic energy, lowering the cost of manufacturing and sparking a manufacturing renaissance.

Romney will reduce our nation's 35% corporate tax rate, currently the highest tax rate in the industrial world to 25%, so that American car companies are more competitive, as the taxes paid have to be added to the cost of the product. He will also stop the extra tax our automakers are forced to pay when they want to bring home their profits from selling cars overseas so that they can reinvest in new plants in the United States.

President Obama could have done this the day he took office since his party controlled both houses of Congress, but chose not to.

By eliminating Obama-era policies that force companies into misguided investments and by ending job-killing regulations that make it expensive to manufacturer cars here in the United States, Romney will get the federal government out of the way so our domestic car companies will be more competitive and will have the freedom they need to innovate.

My former Chrysler boss, Lee Iacocca, and I have watched the last four years, and it hasn't been pretty with so many Americans out of work. Governor Romney proposes a turnaround for America that will make America the place to do business, providing the jobs our people need. I know it's a cliché, but we can't afford four more years like the last four.

That's why Lee and I recently endorsed Governor Romney for president. We need someone who understands the critical role of competitiveness in the global economy. We need someone who is up to this task, someone who has successfully led turnarounds in the private and the public sectors. We need someone with real experience. That man is Mitt Romney.

It's not about the small ball debates that have been going on lately about the auto industry, this one's much bigger, we need to make America great again.

Hal Sperlich is a former president of Chrysler Corp. and a member of the Automotive Hall of Fame.