Obama talks up manufacturing in Michigan
Barack Obama is in the heart of "Reagan Democrat" country today to appeal to working-class voters who could determine his presidential hopes.
In a speech in Macomb County in Michigan, he declared, "The fight for American manufacturing is the fight for America's future."
He promoted his $150 billion plan for clean energy, including hybrid and plug-in vehicles. "American automakers are on the move," he said. "We have to do more."
The Democratic front-runner also took the opportunity to take a slap at presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, who campaigning before the January primary in Michigan said that not all the lost jobs would come back. Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney jumped on that remark, riding a pledge to fight for every job and his Michigan roots to win the primary.
"He was right," Obama said today of McCain. "We can't bring back every single job."
But, Obama said, McCain was wrong to suggest that the country can't replace manufacturing jobs with, for instance, clean energy industry.
UPDATE: Tucker Bounds, a McCain spokesman, responded in a statement: "It’s weak leadership and poor judgment for Barack Obama to make empty promises of billions upon billions in new spending on more government programs when he has no way to pay for it. Senator Obama launched a partisan-style attack questioning John McCain's straight talk, without providing any evidence of his own leadership or experience on the issues that are hurting Michigan and states like it. John McCain believes that we can grow our economy and help workers by lowering taxes, ending wasteful spending, reducing health care costs, reforming our unemployment system and promoting energy independence.”
UPDATE: Romney defended McCain, whom he is supporting and, in some eyes, seeking to be his running mate.
“Michiganders have seen that the Barack Obama approach of promising more spending and then acknowledging the need for higher taxes – Michiganders have seen that approach, and have seen that it does not work,” Romney said in a conference call with Michigan reporters. "Senator Obama believes that government knows bests, and what Michigan needs is more spending from government, and higher taxes on individuals and businesses, and less trade through NAFTA.”
Macomb County, just outside Detroit, was closely studied for the surge of working-class Democrats toward Republican Ronald Reagan in 1980.
While Obama is already focusing on battleground states in November, his wife is on the primary campaign trail today, holding events in Puerto Rico, which holds its primary on June 1.
UPDATE: Republicans are using Obama's automaker tour to accuse him of embellishing on the campaign trail another speech in Detroit last year.
The Republican National Committee distributed a video that appears to contradict Obama's assertions that an audience of auto executives didn't applaud when he offered some tough love.
The RNC also sent out a report in the Detroit Free Press today that says: "To hear Sen. Barack Obama tell it, his speech to the Detroit Economic Club last May pitching tougher fuel-economy standards was a Daniel-in-the-lion's-den moment, one that he has replayed for crowds from Oregon to North Carolina. … The Illinois senator's retelling of his story has a few flourishes. While Obama has repeatedly said "nobody clapped" and that his message was met with silence, the record from that speech from the Detroit Economic Club tells a different story. Obama won at least mild applause several times from the crowd of 2,000.”
Is the relationship between obama and nick colvin (his aide) just sexual or are they in love?
I will never vote for Obama!! He is in the race for himself and not the people. The ONLY reason he is in Michigan now because he needs the state to win, sorry but that is not a person for the people. If he wins the nomination my vote will be for McCain!! I don't trust Obama and will never support him.
Hilliary Clinton 08
Why is the Obama campaign relating to lower wage earners, less
educated etc... these are the people voting overwhelmingly for
Hillary Clinton. Does he think everyone voting for him should only be
the affluent and well educated? If so he will truly be the trounced on
by McCain in November if he is chosen by the DNC (not by the voters)
to represent the Democratic Party.
They (DNC) also make it very apparent they are digging their heels in
by not counting the voters and delegates of Florid and Michigan. Last
time I looked there are 50 states not 48!
A 150 billion dollar program to do what? Is he going to get the unions to allow work changes so Americn auto workers can be competitive? So far all we hear from Obama are words and slogans. When do we get the details of what he is proposing? Probably after he is elected and when it is too late. All the auto workers are going to get are empty words that will keep the status quo as it is today. Why? Because the unions want the clock rolled back to the old days when they could demand and get the contract they demanded. That is not going to happen with or without Obama.
To him, the audience may have appeared verisimilar.
are you serious? its florida's and michigan's fault for not being seated at the convention. They chose to break party rules and move up their primaries in order to "feel" more important by having an earlier say than they should have. They knew full well what would happen if they voted early, now they are crying like a bunch of babies.
Michigan - the domestic auto industry has been dying ever since you stopped innovating.
florida - may you think your important but youre old and dying... step aside. oh and your old people are too stupid to read a ballot.
I will not vote on Obama... I have been a democrat for over 30 years..
Obama is not for the people.. he is only for the black people..
Hey Fran. Obama has already been chosen by the VOTERS! He's won the popular vote and would have won more if that's what mattered in the primary season - for instance he didn't campaign much in CA and MA and NJ, because delegates mattered, not the popular vote. But he STILL WON THE POPULAR VOTE.
Get over it. Obama has won by EVERY SINGLE METRIC! How hard is that to understand?!
This is Mitt Romneys home PLEASE BEWARE.
Wow. I think the reason any candidate goes to any state is because they are trying to get votes and thus win a position. That's not a bad thing, it's the way it works.
@ Laura AZ: You mean to tell me Hillary is somehow different in this regard? I don't understand how anyone seeking change and believing in liberal causes could so easily block themselves out of voting for the other Blue candidate. If Hillary wins this, my vote is hers. If Barack does, my vote is his.
It's your kind of blind, misguided devotion which is going to give us another 4 years of McBush.
@Fran Villa: Your post makes no sense:
"Why is the Obama campaign relating to lower wage earners, less
educated etc... these are the people voting overwhelmingly for
Hillary Clinton. Does he think everyone voting for him should only be
the affluent and well educated?"
Do you mean "why isn't he"? Because I think this article is exactly about how he is trying to make more inroads to lower wage earners, less educated etc. as you say.
McCain = Bush, the sequel.
I grew up poor in Michigan, worked at Ford Motor in Dearborn. At 47 in California, I now drink lattes but still follow the Wolverines with pride. If voters would just read instead of watching pastor-gate, they would know that Obama dug his way out of modest beginnings, fought for blue-collar rights since Harvard (both black AND white) and took the high road at every critical turn.
1. His consistency on renewable energy/environment
** Jan. 12, 2007: Co-sponsorship with McCain/Lieberman - climate change bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by two-thirds by 2050
** Jan 17, 2008: Policy approaches to SF Chronicle
http://cdn.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2008/01/18/MNSNUH7GC.DTL&o=0
** Feb 13, 2008 Wisconsin auto-workers, economy speech
http://wclo.com/podcasts/wclo-news-features/2008/feb/13/obama-janesville/
2. 800+ bills passed in 8 years in IL senate including healthcare reform
www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2007/07/29/us/politics/20070730_OBAMA_GRAPHIC.html
3. He judges men's intentions, the time and the place, not just their words. In 2002, Saddam Hussein provoked this nation in to war with just words - “this will be the mother of all wars" Today's nuts like Iran's Ahmadinajad, N. Korea's Kim Jong Il and even Russia's Putin all trying to provoke America. A real leader needs to judge intent before committing this country to rash action or even categorical condemnation. We saw this ability in Obama's speech on the war in 2002
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Barack_Obama's_Iraq_Speech
4. In 4 yrs US Senate he got real change started with by crossing the isle with Coburn, Lugar, Hagel, McCain
**the Coburn-Obama Government Transparency Act of 2006 (became law),
**The Lugar-Obama Nuclear Non-proliferation and Conventional Weapons Threat Reduction Act, (became law),
**The Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act, passed the Senate,
**The 2007 Government Ethics Bill, (became law),
**The Protection Against Excessive Executive Compensation Bill, (In committee), and many more.
** Honest Leadership and Open Govt. Act (became law)
** joined Chuck Hagel (R-NE) in introducing legislation to reduce risks of nuclear terrorism (partial passage)
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/04/obamas-outreach.html
"Of all the leading candidates, he [Obama] is the only one on these issues who has consistently acted like a true American" says Naomi Wolf, the author of The End of America and the co-founder of the American Freedom Campaign.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/naomi-wolf/why-barack-obama-got-my-v_b_89017.html
Highly biased article. This could have been pulled word-for-word from an RNC or John McCain's campaign release.... Oh, wait, in large part, it actually did.
P.S. Heavy support from the most-informed (i.e. highly educated) is hardly a drawback to a candidate, however, Obama needs to learn how to pander and scrap for every vote, as Hilary has been doing.
As Governor Adlai Stevenson replied when told by a supporter that " every thinking person will be voting for you."
"Madam, that is not enough. I need a majority."
Wow! I know being devoted, passionate backers of Hillary Clinton is one thing, but don't you all realize how you are reacting? You are all so bitter! You are acting like the "uneducated' people that are supposedly Hillary's coalition! How can you possibly call yourselves "democrats"! You would rather vote for McCain if Hillary loses??? Then, YOU ARE NOT TRUE DEMOCRATS! Don't any of you see that 4 years of McCain is 4 more years of the misery that we have had under the Republicans? PLEASE, be devoted and passionate, but be intelligent!
Obama is not on my list of candidates for the presidency, and neither is John McCain. Together, they represent the worst that America has to offer the voters in November. Each is at the extreme opposite end of the spectrum. My only wish is that Senator Chuck Hagel was running for the presidency. He is one of the most savvy and intelligent members of the Senate. A pity he is retiring! America needs a "Chuck Hagel" as president, not the two shams noted above.
Well, McCain is from the Sunbelt where free trade NAFTA are both welcomed with open arms. Unfortunately, NAFTA negatively affects states like Michigan, New York, Ohio, and Illinois. Something has to give and someone has to pay. Michigan will probably be the biggest battleground between McCain and Obama in this election. The state has been in a slump since 2001 and most residents have had enough of pork barrel BS. Being 26, I cannot place all the blame on the politicians here in Michigan. I also blame the baby boomers for not getting the ball rolling in Michigan. They simply sat on their butts and basked in the good times without thinking about the future. That generation never thought about diversifying the economy or pushing for mass transit or erasing the segregation in Detroit.
The World is Flat, and American Manufacturing is Falling off the Edge.
I am a Supply Chain consultant for small to mid-sized manufacturing companies. I used to be a Sr. Commodity Manager for a Fortune 100 company, and 6 years ago I left as I saw the writing on the wall for global outsourcing to low cost countries. I wanted to be a part of keeping manufacturing in American, not moving it out. I wanted to help the small to mid-sized companies improve their supply chain and production operations so they would be better able to compete against outsourcing by being more efficient. And they had room for lots of improvement; I saw it every day managing these suppliers.
Surprise, no one seemed to care! Many companies thought they were doing a good enough job even though their technology and processes resembled something from the 1970’s. God helps those who help themselves, but I guess we forgot that and now everyone wants the government to step in and protect their right to do business the same way they have been doing it for the past 30 years. Forget investing in continuous process improvement, forget improving and educating their labor resource skills, and forget capitalism allowing for survival of the fittest. That all costs money, time, and effort! And worst of all, that requires CHANGE! If the government protects our way of doing business without forcing drastic and immediate change, it will be the kiss of death for our manufacturing. Not only will WE not be able to afford our Made in the USA products, neither will the rest of the world.
If our companies are not eager and willing to change, they will not be here anymore, and they don't deserve to be. We have the best workforce in the world, but we feel entitled and have given up the passion behind why we do business. If you are a manufacturing company, and you do not have a working ERP system, Lean Manufacturing processes, skilled supply chain and production operations employees, and either a partner or a sister division in Mexico, Asia, or the Eastern Block to give you a global footprint, you will die. These are hard words, but it is time hard times. There is no more time left. And I don’t see anyone talking about our own accountability and what we need to do to step up to the plate.
I know this is just one piece of the puzzle, but it is an important piece. The first presidential candidate that stops talking about “protecting” American manufacturing jobs and starts talking about using our tax dollars to subsidize the improvement of American companies through technology and education is getting my vote, whether they are a Democrat or a Republican.
In the meantime, in the words of Thomas Friedman (The World is Flat): Change or die. If you don’t know how, get help now. How you did business yesterday will not keep you in business tomorrow. We cannot (and should not) subsidize your inefficiencies. It is time to stand up and fight back, not by knocking down what others are doing better than us but by improving ourselves. Who’s up for the challenge?
The Supply Chain Gal
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