DETROIT--U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday defended his decision to bail out General Motors and Chrysler in 2009, saying he had proven the naysayers wrong as he touted his economic policies ahead of the November congressional elections.
On a visit to automakers' plants in recession-battered Michigan, Obama sought to boost confidence in his handling of the auto industry's crisis as part of an economic agenda that has drawn Republican complaints of a government overreach.
"We've got a long way to go but we're beginning to see some of these tough decisions pay off," Obama said in a speech at a Chrysler plant where he invoked the manufacturing sector's mobilization during World War Two as proof of America's ability to rise to the most difficult challenge.
With the U.S. unemployment rate at 9.5 percent, polls show Americans' faith in Obama's stewardship of the economy has eroded, a trend that is worrisome to his Democrat allies ahead of November's mid-term ballot. Economic growth slowed to 2.4 percent in the second quarter, a government report showed on Friday.
Obama's visits to the Chrysler plant and GM's Hamtramck plant had the feel of campaign events. Obama signed the hood of a silver Jeep Grand Cherokee at the Chrysler factory and took a spin at Hamtramck in a black Chevy Volt plug-in car.
"Don't bet against the American worker," he said to cheers at the GM plant. "GM's on the move, the U.S. auto industry is on the move."
As the election campaign shifts into full swing, Democrats are at risk of steep losses that could cost them their control of one or both houses of Congress. But in a sign of the auto industry's improving fortunes, Obama's trip coincided with an announcement by Chrysler that it was adding a second shift to the Sterling Heights Assembly Plant near Detroit in early 2011 and would keep it open beyond 2012 when it had been slated for shutdown.
Also, GM unveiled plans to make 45,000 Chevy Volts 2012, up from an earlier production plan of 30,000. Obama said his administration's 2009 bailout of GM and Chrysler, heavily criticized by opposition Republicans, had allowed the auto industry to "prove the naysayers wrong."
"They don't like admitting when I do the right thing, but they might have had to admit it and I want all of you to know now that I will bet on the American worker any day of the week," Obama said.