Obama visit is well-timed boost to Lordstown plant

Obama visit is well-timed boost to Lordstown plant

Just eight months into his presidency, President Barack Obama came to the Lordstown plant of General Motors Tuesday and gave what had the sound of a campaign speech.

It had phrases designed to elicit an enthusiastic response from its target audience, blue-collar workers who provided a solid foundation for the Democratic Party from the days of the New Deal to the deflections of Reagan Democrats.

“You work hard. You meet your responsibilities. ... You deserve better than the attitude that’s prevailed in Washington and Wall Street and sometimes in Detroit for far too long; an attitude that valued wealth over work and selfishness over sacrifice and greed over responsibility,” Obama told an applauding crowd.

He complimented the workers and General Motors on their success with the Cobalt, and his administration for its role in seeing General Motors through reorganization and in spurring Cobalt sales with the “Cash for Clunkers” program.

There wasn’t much in the speech that Lordstown workers couldn’t like, or that wouldn’t appeal to the constituency that put Obama in office.

And while everyone may not agree with everything Obama said, or every program he espoused, it was clearly a plus for the Mahoning Valley to have the president of the United States at the General Motors plant in Lordstown talking about the need to save General Motors earlier this year and the intention to see the company succeed. The faster that success comes, the faster that federal bailout loans will be repaid. And that would be a plus for everyone.

Two things to celebrate

Obama’s visit came as the Lordstown complex looks forward to bringing a new product on line, the Chevrolet Cruze, while it is still working to meet renewed market demand for the economical Cobalt.

Obama put his touch on both the old and the new, autographing the one millionth Cobalt, which came off the line Monday, and a test model of the Cruze.

The visit also came on the day the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said in an interview that the economy has begun to climb out of what is largely seen as the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Obama also made reference to an economic recovery, noting that in some parts of the country, home sales are up; business investment is starting to stabilize and there’s growth in American manufacturing.

Still, he acknowledged, millions remain out of work across the nation and it’s going to take time for a full recovery, especially in this area, which has been slow to rebound from recessions.

But Obama’s visit not only brought Lordstown workers together on the plant floor to hear a speech, it brought Fritz Henderson, GM’s CEO, to town and gave local union representatives and top management another opportunity to talk about their shared commitment to continuing success at Lordstown.

And while the future of the Valley must extend beyond Lordstown to the development of other industrial components, the bottom line is that Lordstown — whether it has 1,000, 2,000 or 3,000 employees on any given day — remains the largest single contributor to the Valley’s economy. Without that foundation, any future growth would be difficult, if not impossible.

For that reason alone, everyone here can be pleased with the national attention Obama brought to Lordstown Tuesday.