Obama pumps up auto workers, drives Chevy Volt

Jul 30, 2010 — Detroit Free Press

Kathleen Gray and Greg Gardner

Jul. 30, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- President Barack Obama was in Detroit today, visiting Chrysler and General Motors auto plants. Here is the live blog from his visit.

Obama boards Air Force One for return

3:19 p.m. -- Obama arrived at Detroit Metropolitan Airport shortly after 3:15 p.m.

Obama boarded Air Force One after briefly waving to the crowd.

He headed back to Washington.

By Melanie D. Scott

UAW Local chief: 'We're not going to let Obama down'

2:32 p.m. -- Cynthia Holland, president of UAW Local 7, accompanied Obama on his tour of the Jefferson North plant.

"Last year at this time, we didn't know whether we were going to have a plant and now this," Holland said. "My people were so full of pride in front of both the President and (CEO) Sergio (Marchionne).

"And I'm so grateful to Sergio. As long as I've been here, which is 18 years, this is the first time a CEO has come to a UAW policy conference. That means a lot.

"We're not going to let him down and we're not going to let Obama down."

Plant manager passenger during Obama's Volt drive

2:22 p.m. -- Comments from Teri Quigley, plant manager at GM's Detroit-Hamtramck plant who escorted the president on his tour:

"I will remember most the sheer excitement of our work force. The president was genuinely interested in the way we put the cars together.

"Personally, the highlight was when he decided to drive the Volt for a few feet. It performed flawlessly. But to get to be a passenger in that care was unbelievable."

Asked what he talked about with her, Quigley said, "Mostly he was asking about what is the difference in the business climate for us relative to a year ago."

The president didn't say that he would buy or lease a Volt, she said.

'We still have a lot of work to do'

2:13 p.m. -- "The economy was shrinking at 6%. Now it's growing about 2.6%. But there are still too many people out work," Obama told the GM crowd.

"We still have a lot of work to do."

Obama: 'I had confidence in you'

1:55 p.m. -- "A lot of people were skeptical. There were many who said we should just let the market take its course. Let GM go bankrupt. Let Chrysler go out of business," Obama told the crowd at General Motors' Hamtramck plant.

"But I had confidence in you."

Obama tours Hamtramck plant

1:35 p.m. -- GM CEO Ed Whitacre and North American President Mark Reuss are chatting with workers who are gathered in an open area where Obama will speak shortly. Obama is still touring the plant.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood just walked by along with Ron Bloom, former director of the Obama administration auto task force that guided the restructurings of GM and Chrysler.

Obama takes Volt for a drive

1:19 p.m. -- At the GM Hamtramck plant, Obama sits behind the wheel of a black Chevy Volt and drives about 40 feet before Secret Service agents tell him that's enough.

Obama moves on to GM plant

1 p.m. -- As Obama left Jefferson North, UAW President Bob King Walked briskly beside him and the two seemed to be having an animated conversation.

Said Detroit Mayor David Bing: "It was wonderful. It was needed, and I hope he comes back again."

Chrysler chief: 3rd shift possible for Jefferson Ave.

12:58 p.m. -- Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne told reporters after Obama's speech that the company might add a third shift to the Jefferson Avenue plant later this year.

Lottery-winning workers get shout out

12:54 p.m. -- Obama gave a shout out to a lottery club at the plant, which recently won a $96.6-million Powerball jackpot in June.

"Lunch is on them by the way," he said of the 14 people in the club. "Now the first assumption is that people might kick back and retire. ... But most of them just want to keep on working."

The man who bought the winning ticket -- William Shanteau -- bought his wife a new Jeep Grand Cherokee and new American flags for his hometown of Curtice, Ohio.

"He's going to come back to work because he loves this plant," Obama said. "So don't bet against the American worker. I have confidence in you and this economy. We are coming back."

Sywanda Thomas, 44, of Detroit could barely contain herself after the speech, climbing up a metal barrier so she could take one more photo of Obama.

"I've been part time for 11 years and I just started full time on May 3," Thomas said. "I'm truly happy to be working. This has been so cool. I kept calling home during his speech."

Big cheers for jobs

12:36 p.m. -- The biggest applause line so far came when Obama said Chrysler's Sterling Heights plant, scheduled for closure, .

"When a plant thrives, that doesn't just affect the new workers, it affects the entire community," Obama said, adding he talked to a worker on the Chrysler line, who thanked him for the federal help.

"I need to get out of the house," Obama said the worker told him. "I told him I know your wife really felt that way."

Obama speaks to crowd

12:26 p.m. -- "Hello, Detroit. It's good to be back," said Obama, dressed in shirt sleeves and a blue and white tie, after being introduced by a woman named Leah Soehartono who had been unemployed for two years before getting a job at the Chrysler plant in May in the customer satisfaction audit department.

He told the crowd that the first new car he bought was a Grand Cherokee.

"Up until that point, I'd had some old beat up, used cars. They were not state of the art," he said. "I remember walking into that showroom, buying that car, having the new car smell and everything worked. I wasn't used to that."

Obama introduced the dignitaries at the plant -- U.S. Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, U.S. Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne, who got the biggest burst of applause. Gov. Jennifer Granholm, who met Obama at the airport, didn't come to the plant because she was attending a funeral.

Obama tours Chrysler plant

12:25 p.m. -- Obama's tour concentrated on the body shop where robots weld together the floor pan, body panels and roof. Later in an area where workers add certain fasteners and check the welds he and plant manager Pat Walsh. Obama stopped at about a half dozen work stations to talk with employees who showed them what they do.

Behind Obama and Walsh were General Holiefield, vice president of the UAW's Chrysler department, Cynthia Holland, president of UAW Local 7, and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne.

Passing the time

11:56 a.m. -- Perhaps a bit restless after waiting for Obama since 10 a.m., the workers at the Chrysler plant began an impromptu wave around the plant floor, erupting in cheers each time it made a complete round. The President is expected shortly.

Hoekstra: Obama visit a ploy

11:40 a.m. -- Republicans weren't going to let Obama's visit go without a few shots of their own.

"President Obama's visit to Detroit is nothing more than a public relations pit stop," said Republican National Committee spokesman Ryan Tronovitch. "The Michigan auto industry still has a long way to go and President Obama's tax, borrow and spend policies will only prolong Detroit's recovery. As the 91,400 out of work since the passage of President Obama's $862 billion stimulus already know, these policies aren't working."

And gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Holland, said the visit was a crass political ploy.

"Michigan is suffering. Our unemployment rate is at an unacceptable level, businesses are closing and families are being forced to leave the state," he said. "The Democrats are running scared this year and President Obama has become the most divisive president in our history in his attempts to keep his party in power. His stops in Michigan twice before our primary elections are no coincidence. Despite the president's efforts to stifle our message of lower taxes and less spending, I will keep fighting for the people of Michigan."

Plant anticipates visit

11:20 a.m. -- The first shift buzzed with anticipation this morning, waiting for Obama to arrive at Chrysler's Jefferson Avenue plant in Detroit.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity," said Angel Gomez, 47, a plant worker from Detroit. "We got laid off for a while last summer during the bankruptcy, but now we've got a second shift."

Just after 11 a.m., Obama climbed down from Air Force One at Detroit Metro Airport, followed by Senators Debbie Stabenow and Carl Levin and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.

Greeting him at the foot of the stairway was Gov. Granholm, Mayor Bing, and Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the President got into his extended body Cadillac Secret Service car and on his way to I-94 East.

More than 1,000 workers filled the plant floor set up with a podium and the body of a next generation silver Jeep Grand Cherokee to serving as a backdrop for Obama's speech.

Ron Burak, 47, of St. Clair Shores didn't think he'd be standing in the plant today if it weren't for the bailout of Chrysler and General Motors.

"If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be working right now," said Burak, who has worked at Chrysler for 16 years as an electrician. "Some people took buyouts last year when they didn't think we were going to make it."

Harold Webster, 54, of Sumpter Township said he was looking forward to the launch later this year of the plant's next new product, a spiffy vehicle that he predicted might even outsell the Grand Cherokee.

"We don't even know what the name of it is yet," said Webster, who has worked on the assembly line since 1995.

He appreciated the federal government's help with the auto companies and said people shouldn't complain about the help.

"It should have been done. Chrysler went through it before and we paid it all back," Webster said.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0048-47485523