Obama in campaign mode on swing-state jobs tour

Yahoo News ^ | 18 Oct 2011 | Matt Spetalnick

[mandaladon]

GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) - President Barack Obama headed deeper into the electoral battlegrounds of the South on Tuesday on a campaign-style bus tour that has underscored the steep challenges he faces to win re-election next year.

The second day of Obama's slow-rolling journey, billed by the White House as part of his nationwide push to get his jobs plan past Republicans in Congress, remained focused on courting voters in politically pivotal North Carolina and Virginia.

Obama is using the road trip not only to test out a sharper, more populist message as he seeks a second term but also to gauge whether the two traditionally conservative states he won in the 2008 election can stay in his column in 2012.

All indications are it could be a daunting task for Obama, whose poll numbers have fallen to the lows of his presidency amid public discontent over the stalled U.S. economy and high unemployment.

Obama, whose re-election may hinge on his ability to spur hiring, is pressing Republicans back in Washington to pass his $447 billion jobs package in "bite-size pieces" after they shot it down as a whole in Congress last week.

His strategy is to force Republicans to accept his proposals or be painted as obstructionists in the way of economic recovery as campaigning for the November 2012 presidential and congressional elections heats up.

Republicans, who see Obama's plan as laden with wasteful spending and job-killing tax hikes on wealthier Americans, have accused the Democratic president of electoral gamesmanship.

Their impasse has extended the deadlock that brought the United States to the brink of default in August until Democrats and Republicans agreed on the outlines of a deficit-cutting plan as part of a deal to raise the U.S. debt ceiling.

year.

[mandaladon]

Obama's bus tour was taking place just over a year before the election, a time when incumbent presidents generally are spending their campaign time raising money.

Obama's focus on retail politicking at this stage suggests he realizes he has a tough road in 2012 and has to start early to hammer his message home......................This jerk has been campaigning since he got elected.

[skeeter]

Not having read the entire piece (OS) article, did the writer even BOTHER to explore the legality of the president campaigning on the taxpayer nickel while sitting on tens of millions of dollars in his campaign war chest?

[Steely Tom]

Obama in campaign mode...

Just a WAG, but I'm betting he's also in "taxpayers get to pay for it" mode.

[ColdOne]

CAMPAIGN MODE As Obama's black armored bus rolled along, there was little denying the shift into full campaign mode in what political experts see as must-win states for him next year. Wait WH said it isn't a campaign trip. Reuters says it is. I guess they did not get the memo.

[jersey117]

If he’s raising a billion campaign dollars why are we paying for his bus?

[RightGeek]

Looks like a business trip to me:

Too bad he didn't take Moochelle and her posse along for some French Fries

[lacrew]

Looks like a TSA demo.