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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Obama Traverses Country|to Rally for Candidates

WASHINGTON (CN) - President Obama is visiting five states in three days to rally support for Democratic candidates and spread a positive message of economic recovery as he slams Republican obstructionism along the way.

"They're offering fear and they're offering amnesia," Obama said of Republicans at a fundraising event in Los Angeles Monday night. "They are counting on the notion that you won't remember what happened when they were in charge."

Obama is making stops in Wisconsin, Ohio, Florida, California and Washington during his three-day trip.

On Monday, Obama traveled to Wisconsin to visit the advanced battery manufacturing plant of ZBB Energy Corp., which is using stimulus funds to help pay for a renovation that will help it make batteries and battery storage systems to power smart-grid technology.

Obama said the stimulus funds are helping to create jobs at the plant, giving an example of how investing in the clean energy industry can draw the United States after its worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. The economy lost 8 million jobs in the last few years, including 750,000 the month Obama was sworn into office.

Obama said Democrats were trying to "jumpstart a homegrown clean energy industry," while Republicans were acting as the party of "No, we can't," resisting Democratic efforts on everything from reforming health care to reducing the nation's carbon footprint.

Obama poked fun at a comment made by Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., last week, who said, "I wish we had been able to obstruct more."

"Is that even possible?" Obama said, to laughter. "How could you obstruct more?"

At a fundraising luncheon in Milwaukee after the factory tour, held for Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett, Milwaukee's mayor, Obama said of Congressional Republicans, "They are offering the exact same policies that you rejected in 2006, that you rejected in 2008, because you knew they weren't working."

Obama accused Republicans of driving the country into the recession by favoring an agenda of cutting taxes for the wealthy, failing to regulate special interests and not providing affordable health care or education. As the country tried to climb back from the recession, Obama said, Republicans were sticking to "the very same policies that created this mess in the first place."

At a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee fundraising event in Los Angeles on Monday night, Obama said what Democrats face in Congress is "constant, nonstop opposition on everything."

Tuesday morning, Obama traveled to Seattle, where he met with small-business owners, including the owners of a bakery, inn and pizzeria, some of whom have benefitted from Recovery Act loans.

In the afternoon, he spoke at an event for Sen. Patty Murray, a three-term Democratic incumbent slated to face a tough race in Washington.

Tuesday evening, Obama will travel to Columbus, Ohio, where he will meet with a family for what the White House press office describes as a "conversation around a kitchen table" about economic issues. He will then attend a small town hall meeting with local residents.

Obama will also attend a Wednesday event for Gov. Ted Strickland, who is up for re-election.

From Ohio, Obama will head to Florida for a Florida Democratic Party fundraising event for Alex Sink, the state's chief financial officer and gubernatorial nominee.

The scheduled events promise more messages about economic recovery and additional critiques of Republicans.

At Monday's fundraiser in Los Angeles, Obama said, "I would make this observation: When you are driving and you want to go forward, what do you do? You put your car in D. You want to go backwards? You put your car in R," he said, to applause. "We can't afford to reverse back into the ditch."

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