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Obama’s Supporters Cheer What They Hear
POLAND, Ohio – When Gina Morelli says "Obamacare," it is without a hint of the derision that critics of President Obama use when they utter the term.
Morelli, 18, uses a wheelchair to get around because of an autoimmune deficiency that resulted from a procedure performed when she was 14; she has no feeling in her feet.
Wearing an "I [heart] Obamacare" button, the resident of North Lima was among the 300 who attended the president's speech at Dobbins Elementary School. "It was amazing," Morelli said afterward. "I loved his thoughts on health care. For me that is a huge, huge deal. Without Obamacare I would be uninsured today."
Vikki Fletcher of Liberty said she is impressed by the confidence Obama showed in the American people. She pointed to improvements in the lives of people she knows because of Obama's policies. Among them are a brother-in-law working at automotive supplier Delphi, and a son who graduated from college but is unemployed. The son is covered by her health insurance under a provision of the Affordable Care Act.
"We need four more years for him because we've just begun to pull out of this whole economic hole we're in," said Iole Checcone, Canfield. That Obama had the courage to say "yes" to the auto industry -- he backed federal support for General Motors and Chrysler as they worked their way through bankruptcy -- "affected our community in a big way. Not only the people who are directly involved with the auto industry,” she explained, “but the ripple effect."
John Boccieri, a former congressman who now is commander of the U.S. Air Force Reserve Airlift Squadron, said he and Obama spoke briefly prior to the speech about one of his former constituents, Natoma Canfield, who wrote to the president prior to the 2010 vote on the health-care law and has benefited from its passage.
During the speech, Obama noted Boccieri's support for the legislation likely cost him re-election.
"The president was right on message talking about how betting on America, betting on middle-class families here in Northeast Ohio is a winning bet," Boccieri said following the event. "When we put our emphasis and focus on helping people in the country America is stronger."
Still, the latest report on the national jobs – the economy added just 80,000 jobs in June, the Department of Commerce reported, and the unemployment rate remaining at 8.2% -- provided fresh fodder for the president's Republican rival, Mitt Romney.
"There is a lot of misery in America today, and these numbers understate what people are feeling and the amount of pain which is occurring in middle-class America," Romney said in New Hampshire. Not only is the unemployment rate "unacceptably high," he continued, but a broader analysis of people out of work or have dropped out of the workforce or are underemployed constitute nearly 15% of the workforce. He also cited reports that manufacturing isn’t growing either domestically or in imports.
"The president's policies have clearly not been successful in reigniting this economy, in putting people back to work, in opening up manufacturing plants across the country," Romney said.
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-17 Ohio, acknowledged the economic recovery has "a long way to go," but asserted the president’s policies have proven helpful to the Mahoning Valley. Those policies include steel tariffs that helped V&M Star, the aid to the auto industry, and support of student loans. The jobs numbers are a challenge for the president, he acknowledged, but a jobs package that would commit billions of dollars for roads, bridges and airports as well as fund police, firefighters and teachers to help avert layoffs is "sitting on the desk of [House Speaker] John Boehner and he won't move on it," Ryan said.
"That's one of the biggest hurdles, and this election may swing based upon employment," said Herb Washington, who holds several McDonald's franchisee in the Valley.
"Here in the Valley we are in a very enviable position when you look at the growth that is starting to take place here," he added. "It looks like GM is on strong footing. You look at V&M. You look at the shale operation that's taking place here. We're growing in the Valley so we're very fortunate. So I think that the employment numbers will only get better in the Valley."
Alluding to the president's remarks on education, Elaine Fabrizi, a kindergarten teacher at Dobbins, said an overhaul of the American system of education should be a priority. "Without education you are not able to be gainfully employed and so we really do need to look into education and do more funding," she said.
State Sen. Joe Schiavoni, D-33 Canfield, praised Obama for how he explained the differences in the visions Obama and Romney have for the country. "Something I feel is so important is he talks to you and he doesn’t talk at you," he said.
Obama is "exactly right," said Bill Padisak, president of the Mahoning-Trumbull Central Labor Council. "Mitt Romney's out of touch with the regular American worker and he wants to go back to policies that didn't work in the past," he continued. "What we need is to give President Obama four more years so that he can continue the work that he started. This Valley has directly seen his work with what happened with General Motors at Lordstown."
David Green, president of Local 1714 of the United Auto Workers, Lordstown, said his members’ jobs are more secure today than before, crediting the president's policies. "He took that bold step – invested in the industry, invested in the American worker" – and residents of the Valley see the fruits of those efforts, he said.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.