Speaking of which, I received my OFA call and I've noticed that people are starting to pay more attention now with the mid-term elections around the corner.
At the Chrysler plant, Obama said his first new car was a Jeep Grand Cherokee. It had that new car smell and everything, he said. Up until then, he said he owned beaters.
Obama reminded everyone that the just-say-no crowd said that bailing out the GM and Chrysler was the wrong move. To loud cheers, he said those people (republicans) were wrong.
At GM, Obama got to drive the Volt about 12 inches, he said. The Cadillac he rides in, The Beast, is made by GM, he said.
Obama at GM:
Transcript:
Chrysler Jefferson North Assembly Plant
Detroit, Michigan
12:16 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, Detroit! (Applause.)
Well, it is good to be here. Everybody, if you have a seat, have a seat. (Laughter.) It is good -- it’s good to be back.
AUDIENCE: Yeah!
THE PRESIDENT: It’s good to be back. First off, give it up -- give it up to Leah for that wonderful introduction. (Applause.)
We’ve got some special guests here that I want to acknowledge. First of all, your Secretary of Transportation, who has helped to make sure that we are guiding this process of rebuilding the American auto industry and is doing an outstanding job, from Peoria, Illinois, Secretary Ray Lahood. Give him a big round of applause. (Applause.)
Because of a funeral, she couldn’t be here, but I want everybody to give a huge round of applause to one of the best governors in very tough times that exists anywhere in the country, Jennifer Granholm. She’s doing a great job. (Applause.)
Your outstanding new mayor and close to my heart, NBA Hall of Famer, Dave Bing is in the house. (Applause.)
Two of the hardest working senators anywhere. And they are always thinking about Michigan and Michigan manufacturing, making stuff right here in the United States of America, Carl Levine and Debbie Stabenow. (Applause.)
Outstanding member of Congress, Representative Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick. (Applause.) UAW President Bob King is in the house. (Applause.) And Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne. (Applause.) Sergio is modest. He doesn’t stand up. (Laughter.) But he’s doing a great job.
So I just had a tour of this outstanding plant with Sergio and Pat Walsh, your plant manager; General Holiefield -- now, that's a name right there -- (Laughter.) General Holiefield, vice president of the UAW. (Applause.) Cynthia Holland, your local UAW president. (Applause.)
And it was great to see the work that you’re doing and the cars that you’re building. Especially when you consider the fact that just over a year ago, the future here seemed very much in doubt.
Now, before I make my remarks, I’ve got to disclose, I’m a little biased here because the first new car that I ever bought was a Grand Cherokee. (Applause.) First new car.
Up until that point I had had some old, beat up -- (laughter) -- used cars -- they were not state of the art. And I still remember walking into that showroom and driving out with that new car. It had that new car smell, and everything worked. (Laughter.)
I wasn’t used to that. Had all these -- everything was electronic, and I had -- all my -- I’d had to roll up my windows up until that point. So I’ve got some good memories of that car. But I’ve got to tell you when I sat in this car, this is a better car. This is a state-of-the-art car. This is a world-class car right here. (Applause.)
Now, I want everybody to think about where we were. We were in the midst when I took office of a deep and painful recession that cost our economy about 8 million jobs -- 8 million jobs -- and took a terrible toll on communities like this one.
Our economy was shrinking about 6 percent per quarter. Now, this morning we learned that our economy grew by 2.4 percent in the second quarter of the year, so that means it’s now been growing again for one full year. (Applause.) Read the rest here.
