MILWAUKEE — President Obama is using the resurgence of US manufacturing to make an economic case for his reelection, touring factory floors and promoting a made-in-America message that seemed to fit his political campaign like, as it turned out yesterday, lock and key.
Most presidents like to surround themselves with proud workers at factories, but Obama has gone further by making the rebounding manufacturing a key plank of his election-year agenda, arguing that the increasingly service-oriented US economy needs to make things in order to prosper over time. He opened a three-day political trip with a stop in Wisconsin, a state he won handily in 2008 that is expected to pose more difficulty for him this year.
Obama called for tax cuts for US manufacturers and higher taxes for companies that move overseas, pressing what he hopes will be a winning campaign issue. He also acknowledged that many factories have closed, their jobs have gone overseas, and a lot of them “are not going to come back.’’
“In a global economy, some companies will always find it more profitable to pick up and do business in another part of the world. That’s just a fact,’’ Obama said at the Master Lock plant. “But that doesn’t mean we have to sit by and settle for a lesser future.’’
After Milwaukee, he was to attend two fund-raisers in Los Angeles. The first was an outdoor reception at the home of soap opera producer Bradley Bell and his wife, Colleen. The campaign expects 1,000 people to attend, with tickets starting at $250.
Obama also planned to attend a dinner at Bell’s home cohosted by actor Will Ferrell and his wife, Viveca Paulin. Eighty people were expected, with tickets costing $35,800. That fund-raiser will benefit the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fund-raising committee for Obama’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee.
When Obama talks up the economy, his focus on manufacturing is an essential ingredient, from his decision to rescue automakers General Motors and Chrysler to efforts to modernize plants and retrain workers. That message matters in places such as Wisconsin.
Obama carried Wisconsin by 14 percentage points in 2008 but watched his popularity fall amid tough economic conditions. Republicans, led by Governor Scott Walker, captured nearly every statewide office two years ago and Republican leaders expect to target Obama across the Midwest this year.
Walker infuriated Democrats with efforts to curtail collective bargaining rights and faces a recall election in the spring or summer that could serve as a bellwether for Obama in the state. Walker has said that if he prevails in that vote, it would deliver a “devastating blow’’ to Obama’s reelection campaign.
Yet the governor was all smiles as he met the president at the airport, a Milwaukee Brewers jersey in hand as a gift.
The president hit the road with good political news trailing him. Congress had reached a tentative agreement to extend a payroll tax cut that would mean an extra $40 per paycheck for a typical family, along with an extension of unemployment benefits. The payroll tax break was at the heart of Obama’s jobs plan.
He suggested that a range of changes in the tax code could keep the momentum going. Obama has sought a reduction in tax rates for manufacturers and proposed tax credits that would cover moving expenses for companies that close production overseas and bring jobs back to the United States.
He noted that Master Lock has returned about 100 jobs back to America from China since mid-2010 in response to higher labor and logistical costs in Asia.
“Manufacturing is coming back,’’ Obama said. “The economy is getting stronger.’’
Administration officials contend factory jobs are worth the investment, noting that 11 million people are employed in the sector and those jobs support spinoff jobs and spur a large amount of the nation’s research-and-development efforts.
Indiana’s Lugar hustling in fight to keep Senate seat
INDIANAPOLIS - US Senator Richard Lugar, once seemingly unbeatable in Indiana, has been scrambling to reintroduce himself amid a barrage of attacks that he has lost touch - an argument his Tea Party challenger repeated yesterday outside the Indianapolis home the incumbent sold decades ago.
The Republican, who has spent 35 years in Washington, has been campaigning as though he was a rookie politico, trying to introduce himself to the masses and define his image before opponents do.
The charge by GOP challenger Richard Mourdock, the state treasurer, is the latest in a series of them levied against the Republican senator by an unlikely alliance of Democrats and conservatives.
The groups have joined forces to argue Lugar no longer has much to do with Indiana. Both sides sense political vulnerability from the state’s senior senator.
While nearly all members of Congress have living arrangements in the Washington, D.C., area, most own homes or rent apartments in the states they represent. Lugar, who owns a home in Virginia, typically stays in hotels when he returns to Indiana and no longer has a physical address there.