Others may disagree, but given my previous statements on the matter I’m sure you all won’t be surprised to learn that I’m happy about this:

President-Elect Barack Obama‘s transition team is exploring a swift, prepackaged bankruptcy for automakers as a possible solution to the industry’s financial crisis, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Obama’s team has already contacted at least one bankruptcy- law firm to say that Daniel Tarullo, a professor at Georgetown University’s law school who heads Obama’s economic policy working group, would call to discuss the workings of a so-called prepack, according to this person.

U.S. lawmakers yesterday postponed until December a vote on whether to give General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC a $25 billion bailout as an alternative. Automakers such as GM could use court protection to reduce debt and reject unfavorable contracts.

“It creates the environment to deal with GM’s problems but limits government financial commitment,” said bankruptcy lawyer Mark Bane of Ropes & Gray in New York.

The auto executives say it won’t work, but that’s to be expected. The one additional thing I might add is that if Obama intends to do this, and if it seems that GM may fail outright before he is able to put this structure in place, then he ought to approach Congress about an emergency financial package, just large enough to get the companies to January.