ELKHART, Ind. — President Obama on Wednesday used this manufacturing city, which he visited during the depths of the Great Recession, as the backdrop to defend his economic policies, attack Republican opponents and seize a more prominent role in the contentious campaign to replace him.
His sleeves rolled up and his voice rising, Obama cast his speech as an “intervention” on behalf of working Americans who were being misled by Republican rhetoric and ideas. “Don’t think this agenda is going to help you,” he said. “It is not designed to help you.”
He slammed the Republican message as “anti-government, anti-immigrant, anti-trade and, let’s face it, anti-change.”
When Obama first came to Elkhart in 2009, he was trying to sell his economic stimulus package and was working hard to win over skeptical Republicans. He was just 21 days into his presidency and sounded like a local politician, promising a new downtown overpass for Elkhart, money for the local schools and extra cash to help weatherize homes.
Nearly eight years later and nearing the end of his second term, Obama was in full campaign mode during his appearance at a high school here. “I came here precisely because this county votes Republican,” he said, although the high school gym where he spoke was packed almost entirely with cheering supporters.
His aim, he said, was “to bust this myth of crazy, liberal government spending.” Obama noted that the deficit shrank during his presidency and that he argued for a major trade deal he negotiated with a large bloc of Asian Pacific allies that has been criticized by both the major Republican and Democratic presidential candidates.
“No matter how many trade wars we say we are going to put in place, that is not going to help middle-class families here,” Obama said.
He called for immigration reform and insisted that deporting 11 million immigrants in the country illegally was a “fantasy” that “wouldn’t do anything to help the middle class.”
He castigated Republicans for criticizing regulations imposed on Wall Street after the economic crash. “Have we really forgotten what happened just eight years ago?” he said, whipping up the crowd. “Why would you do that? Less oversight on Wall Street would only make another crisis more likely.”
In an election dominated by anti-establishment anger, he criticized what he called the Republican Party’s “cult of small government.”
“The primary story that Republicans have been telling about the economy is not supported by the facts, but they say it anyway,” Obama said. “I hope you don’t mind me being blunt about this.”
On issues including trade, taxes, health care, education and the environment, Obama said that Republican policies have hurt working Americans over the past seven years. When Obama briefly mentioned Donald Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee, the crowd booed.
“No, don’t boo him; we’re voting,” Obama said.
He blasted Trump’s tax plan, saying that it “would explode our deficit by more than $10 trillion” and disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans.
“I am not making this stuff up,” he said.
During the last recession, Elkhart’s unemployment rate peaked at nearly 20 percent, making it among the most battered cities in the country. On his return trip Wednesday, the president touted Elkhart as proof that his economic cure had taken hold. The unemployment rate has fallen to less than 4 percent, high school graduations are up, and mortgage foreclosures have fallen.
Republicans said the gains had come in spite of the president’s efforts. Even before Obama arrived, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) said that Elkhart had succeeded by lowering taxes and cutting regulation, bucking Washington and the White House.
Neither Obama nor Pence spoke of the city’s lingering weaknesses. Elkhart has climbed from the depths of the Great Recession, but like many areas of the United States it has not recovered all the ground it lost. In April, the Elkhart metropolitan area employed about 2,500 fewer workers than it did in January of 2008, a 2 percent drop, according to according to Labor Department statistics. In the past year, the city’s labor market lost ground, shedding 1,000 jobs from March 2015 to March of this year, driven by a 5 percent drop in manufacturing employment.
On his first trip to Elkhart, Obama warned that “endless delay or paralysis in Washington” would threaten his recovery plan. As he nears the end of his presidency, he urged voters to end the gridlock at the ballot box.
“So that’s it, Elkhart,” he said. “That’s the choice you face . . . If we get cynical and just vote our fears, or don’t vote at all, we won’t build on the progress we’ve started.”
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