By Colleen McCain Nelson And Nick Timiraos
WAYNE, Mich.--President Barack Obama launched a three-day
roadshow Wednesday, heralding his economic policies while offering
a preview of some of the proposals he will detail in his State of
the Union address on Jan. 20.
Declaring that America's resurgence is real and the economy is
rebounding, Mr. Obama urged a crowd at a Ford Motor Co. assembly
plant here: "Don't let anybody tell you otherwise."
The tour, which started in Michigan and will head to Arizona and
Tennessee, is an effort to lay the groundwork for executive actions
and legislative policy proposals on issues including housing,
manufacturing and higher education. Mr. Obama's pitch on the road
is a newly aggressive focus on touting positive economic progress,
and it also serves as a counterweight to the Republican legislative
agenda as the new GOP-controlled Congress starts work this
week.
The push, aimed at building momentum for the White House's
economic proposals, began with Wednesday's speech at the plant near
Detroit. The president highlighted the success of the government's
auto industry bailout and discussed fresh efforts to promote
advanced manufacturing and innovation in the country's research
base.
"Because of you, manufacturing has a future in this country,"
Mr. Obama told the crowd at the Ford plant. "And that means,
because of you the middle class has a future in this country."
Manufacturing jobs have increased over the past five years after
declining for decades, as firms benefit from more competitive
energy and labor costs. Factories have added around 700,000 workers
since 2010, pushing payrolls to more than 12 million and marking
the best stretch of hiring for the sector since the 1990s.
Still, manufacturing employment is down around 11%, or about 1.5
million jobs, since the recession began in late 2007. Mr. Obama is
still short of his goal of creating one million manufacturing jobs
during his second term, with around 250,000 manufacturing jobs
added since 2012.
And while the White House has touted what it calls a resurgence
in manufacturing, the administration has faced mixed reviews from
industry groups.
Scott Paul, president of the Alliance for American
Manufacturing, said the president's trade policies are harmful to
auto workers. "The administration fails to mention that we've only
recovered one-third of the good-paying manufacturing jobs that were
destroyed in the recession, " he said. "We still have a long way to
go."
In Michigan, the president visited the Ford assembly plant where
the auto maker produces Focus small cars and the C-Max hybrid. Ford
has added 1,800 workers since 2011 at the plant, which now has
5,000 workers.
It once made Ford Expedition SUVs but was switched over to
fuel-efficient small cars with the aid of a Department of Energy
loan.
At the plant, Mr. Obama underscored the effects of the
administration's policies and set the stage for his next proposals.
The president also recalled his decision to move forward with the
auto industry bailout, saying, "I just want everybody to be clear:
It was not popular."
"I ran not just to do the easy things--I ran to do the right
things," he said. Saving the U.S. auto industry was the right thing
to do, he said, adding that the bet has paid off.
Last month, the Treasury Department sold the last of its stakes
in auto lender Ally Financial Inc., ending the administration's
bailout of the auto industry. The Treasury said it turned a $2.4
billion profit on the $17.2 billion investment in the company.
Losses on rescues of GM and Chrysler Group LLC mean that the
auto bailout ultimately cost taxpayers $9.3 billion, lower than
earlier estimates. The Center for Automotive Research, an Ann
Arbor, Mich., think tank that supported the 2008 bailouts, said
those rescues spared 1.2 million jobs in 2009.
At the assembly plant, Mr. Obama called out Ramone Davis, a
30-year-old Iraq and Afghanistan veteran who found work at the
plant in 2012 in a surge of hiring by Ford.
"I will never forget this for the rest of my life," said Mr.
Davis, who installs rear seats on Focus and C-Max cars.
After touting the auto bailout and the growing economy, Mr.
Obama is expected to focus on housing during a speech Thursday in
Arizona. There, the president will announce plans to cut the fees
home buyers must pay for certain mortgages insured by the Federal
Housing Administration -- part of a broader campaign to improve
access to credit.
On Friday, in Tennessee, Mr. Obama is expected to offer
proposals to help more students go to college.
The president's cross-country promotion of his economic agenda
is a departure for this White House, which has closely held the
details of each year's State of the Union address until the moment
Mr. Obama delivered the speech.
In an opinion piece on Medium.com, Dan Pfeiffer, a senior
adviser to the president, dubbed the preview of new policy
proposals "SOTU spoilers."
"The president didn't want to wait until the State of the Union
to take new steps to help the middle class and lay out his ideas to
keep strengthening the economy," he wrote.
The retooled strategy also serves as counterprogramming during
the week that Congress returns, sending the message that the
president doesn't plan to cede the stage to Republican leaders. The
White House has taken an aggressive posture with GOP lawmakers this
week, announcing Tuesday that Mr. Obama would veto two Republican
priorities: legislation approving the Keystone XL pipeline and a
change to the Affordable Care Act that would redefine full-time
employment as 40 hours a week.
The veto threats elicited swift rebukes from Republican leaders,
with House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) saying the president was
siding with "fringe extremists" in the Democratic Party on the
pipeline project.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus said
important bills now will get a vote in the GOP-controlled Congress
but added: "Will the president's desk be where common sense
legislation goes to die for the next two years?"
Michael Ramsey contributed to this article.
Write to Colleen McCain Nelson at colleen.nelson@wsj.com and
Nick Timiraos at nick.timiraos@wsj.com
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