NASHUA, N.H.—President Barack Obama returned to politically important New Hampshire on Tuesday to pitch his plan to funnel $30 billion to local banks so they can lend money to small businesses.
At a rally resembling a campaign event at Nashua High School North, Obama highlighted the work of ARC Energy in Nashua, where employees are working on a new manufacturing process for LED lighting that will make them more affordable. Obama said the technology created there is the only one of its kind in the world.
The president said small businesses such as ARC Energy have created roughly 65 percent of all new jobs over the past decade and a half.
"We should make it easier for them to open their doors, expand their operations, and hire more workers," Obama said.
The event had all the feel of the rallies that preceded Obama's election in 2008, with the crowd of about 1,600 rising to their feet for multiple standing ovations and holding cell phone cameras above their heads to capture the moment.
Spectators who did not have floor seats all jammed together on one wall of bleachers in the high school gymnasium, with some madly waving their hands for a chance to ask the president a question during the town hall-style meeting that followed his speech.
His plans to stimulate the economy got mixed reviews from demonstrators who crowded a rotary about 500 yards from the high school.
David Allen of Milford, N.H., held a sign demanding "Good Jobs Now," on behalf of the AFL-CIO.
"We support the president's jobs agenda," Allen said.
An arm's length away, Steve LaRose of Goffstown held a sign proclaiming, "2012 Back to the People." LaRose said he had to close his fireplace and home center shop, Feel the Warmth, this past December, due to lack of business.
"In March, I was asking the question, 'When did it start?' LaRose said, of the plummet in business. "It started when he got elected. I see him as not putting any hope in the economy. It scared people to death."
At the rally, Obama praised Kedar Gupta, an inventor and founder of ARC Energy, a three-year-old company that makes furnaces for manufacturers to help them produce LED lights. The furnaces help produce high-grade sapphire, which is used in the lighting.
Before ARC, Gupta founded manufacturing company GT Solar in Merrimack with just $1,000 to start. He grew the company and sold the majority of the shares in 2005. The company now has 343 employees and hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue, Obama said.
"All along, he made sure his employees shared in the company's profits," Obama said. "When the company hit tough times, he cut his own salary first."
Obama toured Gupta's ARC Energy before the rally. While there, he talked about technology and posed for photos, said Gupta's wife, Renu.
"He's a very nice guy, even took my camera and said, 'Take a picture from Mrs. Gupta's camera.' I'm like, 'Oh, good,'" she said. "He knew how to impress people."
Obama also defended his plans for a national health care overhaul after his prepared remarks at the rally.
Andrew Smith, director of the UNH Survey Center, said politics, not policy, likely motivated Obama's visit to New Hampshire.
"You don't come to New Hampshire because you're going to get a big audience, and I don't see that Nashua is a particular example of anything good or bad going on with one of his policies, so I have to conclude he's looking at 2012."
He noted that former President Bill Clinton made a point to return to the state in his first term "to put that stake in the ground and remind voters here why they liked him."
"What he's trying to do is keep other people from running, and remind people he's in charge, he's the president, and they shouldn't get any ideas," Smith said.
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Associated Press writers Kathy McCormack and Holly Ramer in Concord, N.H., contributed to this report.
