“If they’re listening hard enough,” he said, “maybe they’ll come back ready to compromise, ready to do what you sent them there to do.”

That may be a tall order. Even before Air Force One had left the Washington area on Thursday morning to ferry Mr. Obama here to talk about better fuel efficiency and how his auto bailout had saved the country’s car and truck industry, House Republicans were criticizing his trip.

The office of the House majority leader, Eric Cantor of Virginia, put out this statement:

“While the goal of promoting more fuel-efficient vehicles is laudable, such costly new regulations will only create more obstacles to growth and make it harder for working families and small businesses. With 10.5 percent unemployment in the Great Lakes State, the president should explain to people of Michigan how his calls for tax increases and new regulations will create jobs or spur economic growth.”

And, lest anyone think that Republicans were having any second thoughts after Mr. Obama spoke, Speaker John A. Boehner, Republican of Ohio, lobbed this statement: “President Obama likes to talk about being ‘the adult in the room’—but there’s nothing ‘adult’ about political grandstanding. If the president wants to do something productive, he can start by delivering on his promise to outline his own recommendations to rein in the massive deficits and debt that are undermining job creation in our country.”

For Mr. Obama, Thursday’s trip, coming at perhaps the lowest point in his presidency, was a chance to try to regain his footing and present himself as an assured leader with programs and proposals that will help put the American economy back on track and make the country more competitive globally.