Obama “jobs” bus tour travels to NC, skips over hardest hit areas

Because,you know, he cares. Via Charlotte news outlet WBTV:

LENOIR, NC (WBTV) – President Obama took his jobs tour motorcade through one of the nation’s hardest hit areas when it comes to job losses.

The only problem, said many people, is the President didn’t stop.

“He needs to see the vacant buildings and everything and all the furniture and other businesses that have been shut down,” said one man who was at the employment security commission looking for a job.

The President had a scheduled speech in Wilkes County but many in Lenoir were hoping he would spend some time talking with local people. The Hickory/Morganton/Lenoir Metro area is ranked 27th in the nation for its unemployment. Lenoir and Caldwell County have been especially hard hit.

The current rate is 12.9 percent and expected to go higher when the new figures come out in a week. In the past month 314 jobs were lost when a trucking company closed and now a Thomasville Furniture has cut 103 jobs from as Lenoir facility. “We need help,” said Janice Bumgarner who was among those who lost their jobs when Caldwell Trucking shut down.

Coincidentally, the President’s campaign st–, er – “jobs” bus tour came to North Carolina on the very same day that Mooresville, NC-based Lowe’s Home Improvement announced the closing of 20 stores, which means 1,950 jobs lost (North Carolina locations were safe from the cuts):

Home improvement giant Lowe’s Cos. said today it will close 20 underperforming stores in 15 states and cut 1,950 jobs.

Half of the locations closed yesterday while the others will be shut in a month, the Mooresville, N.C. company said today in a statement. Lowe’s, the No. 2 building supply chain after Home Depot, said the move will allow it to focus on more-profitable locations.

Before the closures Lowe’s operated 1,725 stores.

Lowe’s will only open 10 to 15 stores in North America annually beginning in 2012, rather than the 30 it had expected to open.

In August, Lowe’s said volatile weather and shoppers’ worries about the economy hurt demand. Profit was nearly flat in the second quarter and the company lowered its yearly sales forecast, the AP reported.

The stores affected are in: Los Banos, CA, Biddeford, ME, Old Bridge, NJ, Westminster, CA, Ellsworth, ME, Batavia, NY, Denver, CO, Ionia, MI, N. Kingstown, RI, Aurora, IL, Rogers, MN, Emporia, VA, Oswego, IL, Claremont, NH, S. Tacoma, WA, Chalmette, LA, Hooksett, NH, Brown Deer, WI, Haverhill, MA, and Manchester, NH.

He always seems to pick the wrong times to visit North Carolina, doesn’t he?

The Prez, of course, took his usual pot shots today at his Republican opposition in the House and Senate, insinuating that they simply don’t want to create jobs:

FLETCHER, N.C. (AP) — Rolling through small Southern towns in a campaign-style bus, President Barack Obama on Monday pressed lawmakers back in Washington to start taking up pieces of his rejected jobs bill and mocked the Republicans who had shot it down in total. The Senate moved to vote soon on one part, a plan to help states hire teachers, but the proposal seemed doomed.

Deep in the mountains of politically important North Carolina, Obama soaked up the region’s autumn beauty at the same time he assailed foes of his jobs legislation, accusing them of failing to listen to the public.

[…]

In North Carolina, the president directed his most pointed remarks at Senate Republicans, who last week blocked action on his full $447 billion proposal combining tax cuts and new spending.

“Essentially they said no to you,” Obama told a supportive crowd outside Asheville. Noting that Republicans will now get a chance to vote on elements of his jobs agenda one by one, he said: “Maybe they just couldn’t understand the whole thing all at once. So we’re going to break it up into bite-size pieces.”

[…]

Capping his public comments at a high school in Millers Creek, N.C., Obama chided Republicans again, this time in an apparent reference to the influence of the tea party. “It’s way overdue for us to stop trying to satisfy some branch of the party and take some common-sense steps to help America,” Obama said.

House Republicans were quick to point out that they originally proposed breaking Obama’s jobs plan into pieces. House Speaker John Boehner’s office said Monday that the Ohio Republican has offered to work the president on aspects of the bill Republicans agree with but the president opted for a bus trip instead.

Aw, shoot – why let facts like that get in the way of a good campaign-oriented rant?

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