President Obama touted his decision to spend more than $50 billion to rescue General Motors during his weekly radio address from the GM auto plant in Detroit.



Obama sounded a positive note on his effort to revive the U.S. economy a day after the Commerce Department reported that national economic growth has slowed to 2.4 percent.





ADVERTISEMENT

Republicans in Washington have strongly criticized the bailout but Obama claimed vindication after touring Chrysler and GM plants.“There were leaders of the “just say no” crowd in Washington who argued that standing by the auto industry would guarantee failure,” Obama said.“Today, the men and women in this plant are proving these cynics wrong,” he said. “Since GM and Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy, our auto industry has added 55,000 jobs – the strongest period of job growth in more than ten years.“For the first time since 2004, all three American automakers are operating at a profit. Sales have begun to rebound.”Obama highlighted GM’s production the Chevy Volt, a plug-in hybrid that can drive 40 miles before consuming gasoline.He said that Michigan will manufacture as much as 40 percent of the world’s advanced battery production in five years, up from 2 percent in 2009.Obama acknowledged that more work needs to be done to restore the economy and employment to what it was before the crash, but argued his decisions have made a difference.“What’s important is that we’re finally beginning to see some of the tough decisions we made pay off,” he said. “And if we had listened to the cynics and the naysayers – if we had simply done what the politics of the moment required – none of this progress would have happened.”Republicans have made the economy the centerpiece of their campaign against the Democrats. They argue that Obama’s policies have hindered the economic recovery.House Republican Leader(R-Ohio) blasted Democrats Friday evening for pushing a job-killing agenda after the House narrowly passed a bill to toughen offshore oil drilling rules and lift liability caps on the oil industry for spills.“This legislation will have devastating consequences for the American people because it establishes a new tax on American energy, imposes a job-killing de facto moratorium on offshore drilling, and includes $30 billion in unrelated spending that will be piled onto the backs of our kids and grandkids,”said.During a Thursday speech, Senate Republican(Ky.) accused Obama and the Democrats of compiling “a record of job-killing taxes, burdensome new regulations, massive government intrusions, and record deficits and debt.”Obama returned fire at McConnell, blasting Senate Republicans for blocking legislation that would help thousands of small businesses around the country.Obama said he could not imagine anything more “common-sense” than giving tax breaks and lending assistance to small business.He noted that Republican-allied business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business have praised the small business bill pending in the Senate.He also noted the bill includes many provisions supported by Democrats and Republicans, such as a $30 billion small business lending fund co-sponsored by Sens.(D-La.) and George LeMieux (R-Fla.).“The Republican leaders in the Senate once again used parliamentary procedures to block it,” Obama said. “Understand, a majority of Senators support the plan. It’s just that the Republican leaders in the Senate won’t even allow it to come up for a vote.”“That isn’t right,” he said. “And I’m calling on the Republican leaders in the Senate to stop holding America’s small businesses hostage to politics, and allow an up-or-down vote on this small business jobs bill.”Democratic political strategists hope to portray Republicans as opposed to helping small business, flipping the GOP’s long cherished self-identification as strong supporters of small business owners.Senior White House political advisor David Axelrod told Democratic senators in a private meeting Thursday that it would help them politically to cast Senate Republicans as anti-small business.“It was a good thing if we could be perceived the champions of small business and if the Republicans were holding that up it would inure to our benefit,” said a senator who described the meeting with Axelrod.