The President has a town hall meeting in Racine.
President Barack Obama plans to talk about the economy, in a city hit hard by the recession. Racine has Wisconsin’s second-highest unemployment rate at 14.2-percent.
State Republican Party chairman Reince Priebus says maybe Obama will talk about manufacturing jobs — or lack thereof. “Wisconsin is going to have an earful for President Obama, because Wisconsin has lost over 73,000 jobs since the failed stimulus plan was enacted.”
Wisconsin State AFL-CIO President David Newby wants the President to intervene in the effort to extend Unemployment benefits to laid-off workers, and he wants the people of Racine to tell Obama that they cannot afford new trade agreements that send more U.S. manufacturing jobs overseas.
Priebus says, maybe Obama will attempt to smooth over something said last Friday by Vice President Joe Biden during his appearance at a fundraiser for US Senator Russ Feingold in Milwaukee. “Obviously he misspoke again and apparently said that there’s no possiblity to restore 8-million jobs lost in the ‘Great Recession.'”
Prieubus says it’s great that the people of Racine will be able to talk directly to the man who shares responsibility for the economic crisis we’re facing in Wisconsin.
NOTE: Obama will speak at a roundtable-style gathering at Festival Hall after 1:00 pm.