Obama visits Elkhart, Ind. (population: out of work)

 

President Obama visited Elkhart, Ind., today, a city with one of the fastest rising unemployment rates in the nation, to dole out fresh dollars from Washington and make the case that his $787-billion stimulus package is working.

Unemployment in the Elkhart-Goshen metropolitan area, 4.8% at the end of 2007, had rocketed up to 18.9% by March. That's when manufacturing employment in the area, which centers on the slumping recreational vehicle industry, hit an 18-year low of 44,900 jobs. Obama conceded, "Elkhart has been hit with a perfect storm of economic troubles."

Speaking at a Navistar plant in nearby Wakarusa, Obama said that, thanks to a $39-million government grant, the factory that once made Monaco Coach RVs will now be able to build battery-powered vehicles, part of what he called a green innovation agenda.

"I don't want to have to import a hybrid car, I want to build one here," he said. "I want the technologies to be developed here in America."

As the president made his second trip in six months to Elkhart, Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Steven Chu were also on the road, bringing news of battery technology grants to Detroit and Charlotte, N.C. Other Cabinet officials too were fanning out across the country, announcing $2.4 billion in competitive grants to promote the green economy.

"If we want to reduce our dependence on oil, put Americans back to work and reassert our manufacturing sector as one of the greatest in the world, we must produce the advanced, efficient vehicles of the future," the president said. "We have to harness the potential — the innovative and creative spirit that's waiting all across America."

It was vintage Obama, the Obama of hope, evocative of his speeches on the campaign trail last year.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Jason Reed / Reuters

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Comments

[Two Cents Per Mile]

I'm glad to see money being put into Electric Vehicles- it's such a smart decision. But it's a little depressing to see most of that money going to the big 3. General Motors had a marketable electric car over 10 years ago, but they crushed the car and sold the patents to chevron oil, who in turn sued any startup company trying to build electric cars with the powerful NiMH batteries. It's disgusting to see GM award $200 million to develop batteries. Furthermore, Obama should enact eminent domain over the NiMH battery patents owned by Chevron to stimulate research. Learn more by reading the book about the history of electric cars, "Two Cents Per Mile" by Nevres Cefo (you can read excerpts on amazon at http://bit.ly/2centspermile )

[Bead Stallcup]

Hate to be a soiled sport, but apparently hand-picked, special, audiences were placed around BO in Elkhart today to make it look as tho he's found a very receptive crowd there. Why do I say this. My family lives in South Bend and I saw the MSNBC videos earlier today. Just be assured, thousands of protestors are out today in the area, but the cops and taxpayer funded federal thugs are taking extra steps to be sure their road blocks and yellow lines are at great distances from the circle of Obama's event, meant, of course, to keep the public as far away as possible and to give the FALSE impression that the general populace of Elkhart is happy to BO. Mr. Obama knows better than to face the general public in Elkhart and South Bend. As might be expected, it was just a clever publicity stunt, with "special" audiences in a sealed off area, out of earshot from any protesters. Why would BO go to all that trouble, if he's telling the truth?

[amsatpro]

I agree with that!
Todd DiRoberto
http://www.campaignmoney.com/political/contributions/todd-diroberto.asp?cycle=08

[Jon Weiss]

I have been out of work for nearly a year and now Obama says this may be a "jobless recovery" Oh well, I didn't want to pay into his flakey healthcare sytem anyway, because unlike most of the democrats in congress, I have actually read the bill. But now Obama has put out a sort of bounty notice on people like me because we disagree with his socialist plans. he wants you to report people to flag@whitehouse.gov so he can "deal" with those who do not see eye to eye with him.

No Wonder Pelosi is pushing for a healthcare bill that raises taxes, she needs more of our money to buy herself and her cronies luxury jets to run around the country.
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House Orders Up Three Elite Jets Aug 5, 2009 Last year, lawmakers excoriated the CEOs of the Big Three automakers for traveling to Washington, D.C., by private jet to attend a hearing about a possible bailout of their companies. But apparently Congress is not philosophically averse to private air travel: At the end of July, the House approved nearly $200 million for the Air Force to buy three elite Gulfstream jets for ferrying top government officials and Members of Congress. The Air Force had asked for one Gulfstream 550 jet (price tag: about $65 million) as part of an ongoing upgrade of its passenger air service.