OHIO Steel workers get chance to express concerns to Bush

The workers live under the threat of plant closings.
LOS ANGELES TIMES
CANTON -- As President Bush's campaign bus barreled down Interstate 77 toward this Rust Belt city on a recent Saturday morning, an unusual focus group with 10 local steel workers convened inside the vehicle. Conducting the session was Bush himself.
Even in an election year, Bush's direct encounters with the public are infrequent, fleeting and almost always carefully choreographed. In the free-flowing give-and-take aboard his private bus, however, the president got a polite but candid earful about the uneasy feeling many such workers have about the economy.
In the process, Bush had a rare opportunity to take his own fix on an issue that is not going his way in some politically critical areas, including Ohio. And the bus session, as well as the campaign stop immediately after it, reflected Bush's continuing search for ways to deliver a positive economic message without seeming out of touch with ordinary voters.
"There was a lot of anxiety [over the economy]," said participant Vince Martino, describing the meeting later. "The president said he could feel the tension there and understood."
At one point, as Bush was talking about his efforts to make health insurance more widely available, a gruff steel worker named Tom Miller, who described himself as a loyal supporter, all but interrupted the president to say, "Insurance is important, but it doesn't mean a lot if you don't have a job."
Showed empathy
At the next campaign stop, Bush made a point of expressing empathy with the region, telling 5,000 raucous supporters, "I just traveled on the bus with workers who told me they are nervous about their future. They're concerned. I am, too."
Last week, Bush continued to deal with the subject in ways calculated to show that he understands such workers' pain. He virtually has banished the phrase "turning a corner" from his public remarks on the economic outlook -- a line he had begun using not long before.
On Wednesday, addressing voters in Chippewa Falls, Wis., Bush praised the economic energy of farmers, workers, and small-business men, saying "well-timed tax cuts" had helped lift the economy. But he prefaced his remarks by acknowledging problems. "There's more to be done to keep this economy growing. We've been through a lot," he said.
"We've done our job. We've created the conditions for economic growth, but there is more work to do," he said later in words that reflected the fine line he hopes to walk: talking up the economy without seeming insensitive to those having trouble.
Concerns
The Ohio workers he met with -- employed by the Timken Co., an old-line manufacturer of bearings and other steel products -- live under the threat of plant closings. Details of their free-flowing session July 31 were provided by seven of the 10 participants in interviews, and generally confirmed by White House and the president's campaign aides.
The group included Democrats as well as Republicans, white-collar workers as well as union members.
The participants all cited Bush's personal charm, and his ability to put them at ease and encourage candor.
There wasn't room for everyone to sit, for example, so a few had to stand. Bush offered his recliner to Betsy Burns, a products inspector. Taken aback, she demurred.
"This is an executive order. Sit down!" the president barked. Amid much laughter, Burns saluted and settled into the president's cushy chair while he remained standing throughout the session.
"That really broke the ice," said Jeff Clark, director of advanced product technology. "He did such a good job at putting people at ease, no one held back, and some were extremely concerned about what's going on."
Timken has been in the news in this campaign because Bush visited one of its facilities here in 2003 and said his tax cuts would create new jobs. But earlier this year, the company announced plans to close three Canton-area ball-bearing plants that employ 1,300 workers.