NORTH CHESTERFIELD, Va. — President Obama appeared before soldiers and firefighters Wednesday as he made an impassioned populist plea for his jobs plan on the final day of a campaign-style bus tour through North Carolina and Virginia.
For three days Obama delivered slight variations of the same speech, a battle cry for middle America to do what he has yet to accomplish: convince congressional Republicans to get behind the $447 billion package.
“We’ll see if they fight just as hard for your jobs as they do for their jobs,” Obama said at a North Chesterfield fire station. As his bus pulled in, the street was lined with a small gathering of Richmond Tea Party members holding up signs pushing back against the Democrat’s proposal.
Obama selected military personnel and emergency responders to pitch his plan for tax credits to businesses that hire post-9/11 veterans and funds for localities to maintain present levels of police and fire departments.
After listening to Obama speak to troops at the Joint Base Langley-Eustis near Hampton, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell said he can get behind the perks for hiring veterans and other tax credits for businesses. But the bill also contains a tax surcharge on those making more than $1 million and new spending on roads, bridges and airports, and Republicans have balked at those measures.
“[It’s] just more spending, more stimulus, more short term gain but not anything that’s going to create a sustained economic recovery,” McDonnell said. “My criticism has been that we tried this before.”
Obama now returns to a divided Washington where Democrats will try to pass his bill in pieces. Those who have attended the rallies of the past three days have expressed disappointment with how little is getting done in the nation’s capital, and at what they perceive as a deep divide between America’s political parties.
“I compare us to children growing up in a family. If the parents are fighting, the kids don’t feel safe,” said Capt. Camille St. Julian of the U.S. Air Force before watching Obama’s remarks with hundreds of her fellow airmen. “There’s no trust.”
