His departure from General Motors has been presumed for months, well before the Great Recession-prompted chaos that has swallowed the U.S. auto industry. Still, now that CEO Rick Wagoner is officially quitting, with a not-so-subtle sweep from the U.S. bailout broom, I wonder:

Will this move serve as a rallying cry around future bailouts, especially when they lead to actual or de facto ownership stakes? After all, this is the greatest fear of nationalization in key industries: The government “running” things by firing management. Wagoner’s case is a weak example, because he was embattled long before the Federal dollars came along — indeed, that’s probably why the Obama Administration felt this was a safe move in that sense. Still, it wouldn’t take much revisionist spinning to make this look like White House micromanagement in private industry (to paint this with the appropriately broad brushstroke). Wagoner would go from being the ineffectual corporate steward to a martyr for anti-nationalization forces.

My guess is that it’ll take one more high-profile shove out the door by a similarly bailed-out industry (banking/financial, basically) for this scenario to coalesce. The evolution should be fun to watch.