This wasn't in the distant past, this was less than two years ago.
The White House came up with the restructuring plan before Chapter 11 was even filed, that basically short circuited federal bandruptcy law. Remember? The US government ended up with a 60% ownership stake in GM, Canada end up with ownership,the Treasury guaranteed some GM's debt, and the bondholders, which are given a higher priority under actual bankruptcy law, were forced to accept equity instead of repayment of the debt.
In other words, the company was largely nationalized.
Odd that your Huffington piece pretends that this was just another Chapter 11. It wasn't technically inaccurate, but so incomplete as to be deceptive.
I'm sure in the long run, it will have the same success as the Chrysler bailout did. It will allow the company to limp along for a few more years.