Obama to talk with autoworkers, AFL-CIO members

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By PHILIP ELLIOTT

WASHINGTON (AP) - Going before groups of autoworkers and union members, President Barack Obama is trying Tuesday to assure blue-collar audiences that the economy is coming back - and that his administration deserves credit for saving some of their jobs.

Obama is scheduled to meet with workers at the General Motors Lordstown assembly plant near Youngstown, Ohio, where GM recently was able to start a second production line because of demand prompted by the federal Cash for Clunkers program.

Later, the president addresses the AFL-CIO convention in Pittsburgh, where he will urge the nation's largest labor union to support his health care overhaul.

"We didn't come here (to Washington) just to respond to crises; we came here to address America's prosperity in the future, and I think that's what he'll outline," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters Monday, previewing the president's message.


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20090915/D9ANKKR05.html