President Obama delivered an upbeat economic forecast and a defense of his economic policies on Thursday, telling a crowd at a manufacturing plant here that job growth would continue and that “next year is going to be better than this year.”
Enlarge This Image
Doug Mills/The New York Times
President Obama dropped by a police command center in Manhattan on Thursday and thanked the department's workers.
The latest on President Obama, his administration and other news from Washington and around the nation. Join the discussion.
Mr. Obama came to this economically depressed city as part of his “White House to Main Street” tour. He dropped by a local restaurant, Duff’s, to sample a Buffalo delicacy — spicy chicken wings — and toured Industrial Support Inc., a specialty manufacturing company, where he gave himself credit for breaking the “economic freefall” the nation faced when he took office 16 months ago.
“We can say beyond a shadow of a doubt today we are headed in the right direction,” Mr. Obama told an audience of about 230 workers and local business leaders. “All those tough steps we took, they’re working, despite all the naysayers who were predicting failure a year ago.”
Mr. Obama has typically been fairly cautious about heralding economic good times. With the national unemployment rate nearing 10 percent, the president typically says that while the nation is emerging from the recession, he knows that many Americans are still hurting and that there is still a long way to go.
He repeated that message here — “I won’t stand here and say we’ve climbed all the way out of the hole,” Mr. Obama said —but his tone was decidedly optimistic.
With Congressional elections just six months away and Democrats expecting to lose seats, the president has political reasons for striking an upbeat note. He needs to convince voters that he and his fellow Democrats have gotten the nation back on track.
“Last month we had the strongest job growth we had seen in year, and by the way, almost all of it was in the private sector, and a bunch of it was manufacturing,” the president said, referring to last week’s report that found that the economy added 290,000 jobs in April. “So this month was better than last month. Next month is going to be stronger than this month. And next year is going to be better than this year.”
The White House promised at the beginning of 2010 that the president would focus on “jobs, jobs, jobs,” but other priorities have repeatedly intervened — a health care bill, financial regulatory reform, an oil spill, an attempted terrorist attack in New York City.
Congress is considering several measures to spur job growth, and Mr. Obama urged quick action on Thursday. But he has not leaned on lawmakers the way he did when he wanted them to pass his health care bill. Polls show that the economy remains the No. 1 issue on the minds of most Americans.
The trip to Buffalo was an effort to revive the jobs message, but it was brief. After three hours here, Mr. Obama flew to Manhattan, where his focus shifted to money — specifically, campaign cash. He scooped up $1.3 million for the Democratic Campaign Committee at a fund-raiser where the cost of a single ticket was $15,000 and where V.I.P. couples paid $50,000 for a private reception with the president.
The president also visited the New York Police Department’s Real Time Crime Center, the technological information hub established in 2005 that was instrumental in the recent Times Square terror investigation. At the front of the command center at 1 Police Plaza, he stood before a wall filled with screens of data: a live video feed of New York City traffic; an aerial photo of Lower Manhattan; and a graphic depicting the terror investigation, including a photograph of the prime suspect, Faisal Shahzad.
Joined by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly, Mr. Obama said, “Look, I know you folks are busy, but I just wanted to come by and say thank you.”
The president was given a jacket with the letters NYPD emblazoned on the back and Potus (president of the United States) on the front, along with a seal of the police commissioner’s office.
He put the jacket on. “Look at that, it says Potus here,” he said. “I’m official.”sexy lingerie corsets
sexy lingerie Saucy Lingerie Sets
sexy lingerie MAGICGIRL
sexy lingerie Chemise Lingerie
sexy lingerie Body Stocking
http://kaliningradtoday.ru
http://verystyleguide.com/very/forum
http://www.bananacorp.cl/bnn
http://www.journobiz.com/forums
http://www.zdrave.tv
