Obama Defends Economic Policies Against Republican Attacks Before Election

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President Barack Obama defended economic policies that have come under Republican attacks ahead of November’s congressional elections, as he kicked off a three- day, cross-country trip yesterday.

At a battery maker in Wisconsin and at Democratic Party fundraisers there and in California, Obama said steps that his administration has taken have helped to turn around the U.S. economy after the worst recession in more than 80 years.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do, and that’s what makes this election so challenging,” Obama said last night at a Los Angeles fundraiser for Democratic congressional candidates. “We have a choice between the policies that got us into this mess and the policies that are getting us out of this mess.”

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Republicans trying to wrest control of Congress have criticized Obama’s efforts to overhaul health-care policy and financial regulations, as well as the $862 billion stimulus measure, as economic growth and hiring have fallen short of some administration projections.

Since the stimulus legislation was approved in February 2009, the U.S. unemployment rate has climbed to 9.5 percent in July from 8.2 percent. The administration projects the jobless rate will average 9.7 percent for the year.

The White House hasn’t made much progress in selling the stimulus spending to voters. Asked how their opinion of the stimulus has changed in recent months, respondents to a Bloomberg National Poll were divided almost evenly among those who say they had become more supportive, those who are less supportive and those who haven’t changed their view.

Defending the Record

Obama has been making regular trips outside Washington to defend the stimulus and the government’s bailout of automakers, and to say the U.S. economy is on the mend.

At the Los Angeles event, Obama hailed what a Democratic Congress has accomplished since January 2009, including the stimulus, the health-care overhaul and new rules for the financial industry, despite “constant, nonstop opposition” from Republicans.

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“We’re here to make sure those people who took the tough votes are supported,” he said.

At his first stop yesterday, Obama said government incentives to expand clean-energy industries will help restore jobs, citing a battery maker in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, where he is highlighting the impact of the economic stimulus.

Obama used the example of ZBB Energy Corp., which is using a $1.3 million loan from the legislation to keep 12 workers on staff and eventually hire 80 more as it expands production.

New Job Sources

“We expect our commitment to clean energy to lead to more than 800,000 jobs by 2012,” Obama said after a tour of the ZBB factory. “And that’s not just creating work in the short term; that’s going to help lay the foundation for lasting economic growth.”

Obama said government spending has arrested the economy’s freefall and set it on the right path.

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“These have been a couple of very hard years for America, and we’re not completely out of the woods yet,” Obama said at the battery factory. “But we are headed in the right direction.”

The president will deliver remarks on the economy today in Seattle and attend a fundraiser for Democratic Senator Patty Murray. Tomorrow, he’ll discuss the economy in Columbus, Ohio, and raise money for the Ohio Democratic Party before traveling to Miami for a similar fundraiser for Florida Democrats.

So far this month Obama has raised almost $5 million for Democratic candidates and party organizations.

All 435 members of the House of Representatives face elections this year, as well as more than one-third of the Senate. Democrats now have majorities in both chambers.

“Everybody’s going to have a tough race across this country because we’re going through tough times,” Obama said at the Milwaukee event, which raised money for Mayor Tom Barrett’s campaign for governor and for the state Democratic Party organization.