President Barack Obama and his top aides launched a roadshow Wednesday aimed at putting some momentum behind his State of the Union proposals to beef up American competitiveness and spur job creation.
Just hours after delivering his address to the joint session of Congress, Obama visited three Wisconsin manufacturing companies, including firms that make energy-efficiency technology, solar power cells, and wind turbines to create electricity.
“These aren’t just good jobs that can help you pay the bills and support your families. They’re jobs that are good for all of us; that will make our energy bills cheaper; that will make our planet safer; that will sharpen America’s competitive edge in the world,” Obama said in his visit to Orion Energy Systems in Manitowoc, Wisc.
With Republicans emphasizing unfettered free enterprise and less government intervention as the way to create jobs, the president stressed that the firms’ success depended not only on entrepreneurial spirit, but on government policies that encouraged companies to pursue green technology.
“The jobs you’re creating here and the growth you’ve achieved have come through hard work, ingenuity and a single-minded focus on being the best at what you do,” the president said. “And you’ve also been supported over the years not only by the Department of Agriculture, and the Small Business Administration, but by tax credits and awards we created to give a leg up to renewable energy companies.”
Obama met the CEO and founder of Orion, Neal Verfuerth in 2009, after Verfuerth was featured in Gov. Jim Doyle’s State of the State message that year. Verfuerth was an early supporter of Obama in the 2008 campaign.
Orion moved to Manitowoc in 2004, after Mirro, a huge cookware and utinsels manufacturing company, relocated to Mexico, taking 1,400 jobs with it. The unemployment rate shot up from 3 percent to 9 percent almost overnight in 2003 when Mirro left, but it settled down to 3 percent when Orion moved here in 2004, according to Kevin Crawford, a former Manitowoc mayor and Orion’s Director of Governmental Affairs.
Using many of the same facilities and machinery, Verfuerth began manufacturing green energy lighting technology that he invented in this plant. They provide lighting for 126 of the Fortune 500 companies. The company boasts that their technology reduces lighting costs by 50-60 percent.
The site for Obama’s trip was particularly well-suited for him to follow up on his “State of the Union” exhortation that America, challenged by China and India for economic superiority, is facing a new “Sputnik moment.”
“It was right here, almost fifty years ago, that a chunk of metal came crashing down to the Earth. It was part of a satellite called Sputnik that set the Space Race in motion,” he said. “Well, I want to say to you today that it’s here in Manitowoc that the race for the 21st Century will be won.”
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said one point Obama wanted to hammer home Wednesday was that if the U.S. hopes to compete with other countries that are making green technology a priority, some government assistance has to be part of the equation.
“We’re not going to meet the challenges that we have with China and India as they invest more and more heavily in clean energy without a plan of our own,” Gibbs told reporters aboard Air Force One. “I think you’ll see some of that highlighted, quite honestly, on our trip.”
Vice President Joe Biden also hit the road: traveling to Greenfield, Indiana to visit a manufacturer of Lithium batteries, a critical component of electric cars. Biden touted Obama’s State of the Union goal to have 1 million “advanced technology” vehicles on American roads by 2015.
Not every part of the administration’s road trips to sell the president’s message went smoothly Wednesday.
Small Business Administration chief Karen Mills was scheduled to visit a St. Louis engineering company which develops cutting-edge inventions like a harness that helps people with spinal injuries regain the ability to walk. However, Mills never made it because her flight was canceled due to the wintry weather in Washington.
Still, several cabinet members are planning similar trips in the coming days. One member who made it out of town Wednesday: Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, who went to Nashua, N.H. to visit a firm that makes high-efficiency LED lightbulbs.
By coincidence or not, many of the states getting White House attention are potential battleground states for the 2012 presidential election. Manitowoc has been a popular destination for presidential candidates, from John Kennedy to John Kerry.
But there were also reminders Wednesday that some local and state officials may buck Obama’s approach, even when it could mean federal money and jobs.
On the day after last year’s State of the Union, Obama and Biden traveled to Tampa, Fla. to announce $8 billion in grants for high-speed rail programs, including $810 million for a Wisconsin project to link Madison and Milwaukee.
However, in the audience for Obama’s Manitowoc speech was newly-elected Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wis.), one of two governors who publicly spurned federal stimulus money for high speed rail, calling it unnecessary and unaffordable
On Wednesday, Obama made a brief reference to “connecting America and the American people with high-speed rail,” but no mention of Wisconsin’s decision to part company with the federal government on the issue. Last month, the Transportation Department redirected the money that Wisconsin and Ohio turned away to 13 other states still pursuing high-speed rail projects.
7 comments:
After watching Obama's speech, and reading the subsequent responses to it (Sarah Palin really needs to lay off of the text speech; it only exacerbates my ire), I found the overall situation to be a mixed bad. I do not credit the bad economy, or our debt for that matter, to Obama considering he inherited both from the Bush administration. Still, I don't think he has done everything that he had declared in his campaign (not that anyone can complete all their campaign promises, and admittedly I should be happy that healthcare got through). I was happy to hear his environmental plans, and I'm a big fan of a high speed rail system coalescing within the United States. I do not, however, agree with his sentiment about 10^7 electric cars by 2015. By all technical estimates, this will be a very hard goal to attain, and I only feel this is giving the Republican party another stick to beat him with. But I am glad he's looking at taking a step away from big oil. It's about time someone tried to buck their rule. I just hope it doesn't cost him the Presidency next year.
Sounds to me like Obama is already starting to campaign for 2012; I just hope that Orion doesn't end up like that wind mill blade plant that Obama went to last year in Massachusetts. I do agree with Gov. Walker that the federal stimulus money for high speed rail is unaffordable, and that it's spending rather than investing; but I could be wrong. You do have to spend money to make money.
I like that Obama is being pro active about job creations and green technology. I think the visits to the companies is a smart tactic to help get his message across such as companies pursuing green technology and the benefits that will follow. Neal Verfuerth, one of the founders of Orion helped to decrease the unemployment rate by 6 percent. We can see why it was important for Obama to meet with the founders and leaders of companies and get his message across to them. They can be powerful in helping to pursue green technology. Many smaller companies will most likely also follow behind the footsteps of larger companies like Orion. I disagree with Walker about his decision to “Part Company with the federal government on the issue.” And I think that the 13 other states pursuing high-speed rail projects will be greatly benefited. “By coincidence or not, many of the states getting White House attention are potential battleground states for the 2012 presidential election. Manitowoc has been a popular destination for presidential candidates, from John Kennedy to John Kerry.” I thought this was very interesting to point out and it makes me wonder, if this isn’t a coincidence than what is the meaning of the “potential battleground states” getting White House attention. What are the reasons for this?
The things in the speech contradicted others. The speech its self was nothing more then a sugar coated version of what is really going on. Ex. The combat troops that were pulled out, are no longer there. To replace them they have a new group called. combat support so that the press will report that we are slowly pulling out. With gov. officials that are having their paycut, they are hope this will help with the national bebt. The gov. has created a million jobs, however there were more jobs that have been lost and the jobs that were created are now the type that previous experience and/or training was/is required. The ecoconomy,may be slowly getting better but it is nowhere near where the pres. reported in his speach.
Well this hardly comes as a surprise to me, considering recent developments in politics. including the several plans President Obama outlined in the State of the Union address. I actually support the government encouraging business and industry in the country, however not when our country cannot afford it. America is digging itself deeper and deeper into a hole by year after year spending more than it brings in. This is an issue that should not be taken lightly. If our government continues to spend money on programs such as these, we are heading towards financial calamity just like what happened in Greece, and is happening in Ireland, Portugal, Spain, Great Britain, and Italy. These programs should be pursued after we have the money to pursue them. Otherwise our government will continue to sink deeper and deeper into horrendous debt.
I like Obama's point the 2011 state of the union. It should be obvious that if America is to compete with China and India in the future America will have to cut government spending, make new jobs, and invest in clean energy sources. However, some of his goals seem to be conflicting. How can we cut down on government spending if we spend $8 billion on high-speed rails that might not be necessary?
The pursuit of green energy will destroy the current fossil fuel industry, which is not a good thing. A transition can be made if we allow plenty of time for the market to shift, instead of expecting a rapid change to a compleatly different source of energy. People need not forget oil is a major part of Texas' economy, and a green energy could have negative effects on the economy as well as the people.
As for the railway, it's a bad idea. Americans want to drive their own car, and for better or worse that's what we'll do, even if it means not taking some railway. It will not be safer or less than a hassle to travel than the airline industy because it is just as vulnerable to attack (think thousands of miles of open track). Best of all, our current railway is doing extremely poorly and we can hardly expect less than a monsterious burden to taxpayers to fund and maintain this silly project.
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