Just announced: due to pressure from the Obama administration, GM CEO Rick Wagoner will soon resign.

Personally, I don’t fault Wagoner, at least not more than I’d fault any conventionally-minded CEO. The problem wasn’t Wagoner per se, but the typical American way of doing business: decisions from the top when those with the most knowledge are much lower in the organization, rotating executives so often that they rarely have the knowledge and relationships necessary to do a great job, and so forth.

I’m not very hopeful that any new CEO will change these fundamental aspects of GM. But I’m ready to be surprised.