Obama rails at 'do-nothing' Congress, pushes jobs act

The bus trip, which continues today in Guilford County as well as into Virginia, is an official tax-paid White House visit. But a president's appearances during a Asheville Regional Airport as well as later during a high school in rural Wilkes County sounded some-more like partisan pep rallies, with chants of "Four More Years!" as well as "Fired up! Ready to Go!"In a high-school gym, Obama got serious as well as specific when talking about how parts of his $447 billion jobs plan could help schools hit by budget cuts keep teachers as well as improve classes.Citing a Wilkes County system, he said Superintendent Steve Laws, who introduced him to a crowd of nearly 2,000, has had to increase class sizes as well as do but new textbooks."And a last thing a superintendent wants is to lose good teachers," said Obama, whose current plan would send $35 billion to states to keep from firing teachers, military as well as firefighters.Laws publicly thanked a boss for a $6.1 million that Wilkes schools got in a first federal stimulus package, saying it kept him from laying off teachers. "And I think it saved America," Laws said about a overall stimulus package.In a meeting during a high school with Obama as well as other N.C. public officials, Jennifer Roberts, a Democrat who chairs a Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners, echoed those remarks."I said, 'Thank we for a education funding, as well as for a infrastructure (money) for our schools,' " Roberts reported. "He said 'That's what we're all about. Education is a future.' "GOP opponents have sayBut not all were pleased with a boss as well as his blame-the-GOP message. Outside West Wilkes High School in Millers Creek, lumber company owner Randy Miller told a Winston-Salem Journal that he had to lay off workers because a boss isn't doing enough to help small businesses."He has done nothing to help a country," said Miller, who parked two flatbed lumber trucks with hand-painted signs critical of Obama on a road to a high school.Some on Monday offered a rebuke of bot! h Obama as well as those who blame him, saying it was time to stop pointing fingers as well as to join forces to fix a economy.Retiree Esther Eller, who lives one mile from West Wilkes High School, said she wants to see a two parties work together to create jobs."Forget Democrat or Republican," said Eller, 73, a Democrat who doesn't always vote for Democrats. "We have to all be joined to work for a best of a country...People are out here with no jobs."Gastonia Mayor Jennie Stultz, an independent, also met privately with Obama before his speech in a high-school gym. As she waited outside a school, she insisted that "creating jobs is not partisan....The world has become so partisan that we forgot how to be Americans."When he wasn't attacking Republicans, Obama did seek to tap into that hunger for bipartisan solutions. He told his audience during West Wilkes High that he'd been asked by a TV reporter why he had come to Wilkes County - which, in 2008, he lost in a landslide to Republican John McCain."I said, 'Look, this is an American Jobs Act,' " Obama said to roars of approval. "It's not a Democratic jobs act. It's not a Republican jobs act. It's a American Jobs Act."At times Monday, Obama sounded like a smitten suitor for a affections of N.C. voters, who are crucial to his 2012 re-election strategy."Somebody asked me, 'Why do we come back to North Carolina so much?' " Obama said during his 20-minute speech in Millers Creek. "I said there is just something - a people of North Carolina are so nice. They are gracious as well as they are kind, as well as even a folks who don't vote for me are nice. So I love North Carolina."The boss even got a helping of North Carolina barbecue. After his first stop, during a Asheville Regional Airport, Obama stopped his bus for lunch during Countryside Barbecue. His order: a small barbecue plate, sweet potato fries, green beans, hush puppies as well as sweet tea.Next, he stopped by a Mast General Store in Boone, filling a basket with Bit-O-Honeys, Maple Nut Clusters as well as other! candy f or Halloween, he told a crowd in Millers Creek.President comes to townMany of those waiting in line to get into West Wilkes High were less taken with a political battle than in a fact that a boss of a United States had come to their out-of-the-way county.Greeting a president's motorcade during a school's entrance was this marquee message: "Welcome President Obama to Blackhawk Country."And a school's students, many of whom stayed after school to see Obama, said they'd never forget a day."I think it's really neat that he picks one of a smaller Southern towns in America," said Zach Wood, a 17-year-old senior who plays on a football team as well as was among those who got to sit in a bleachers behind a president. "I think it's going to help a community realize what he's trying to do for a small-town people."Ellie Whittington, 15, a sophomore during West Wilkes High, put it this way: "I think this is a biggest thing that's happened to Wilkes County since I've been alive."Her father is a Democrat, her mother is a Republican as well as "I want to hear what he has to say," she said before Obama's speech. "I think he could do some-more to help on a economy. Wilkes County is struggling. We need all a help we can get."The bus trip by North Carolina as well as Virginia - also considered a key swing state in a 2012 presidential election - comes days after Senate Republicans successfully blocked a $447 billion jobs package that Obama contends would spur job creation.Republicans have criticized a swing as a campaign effort for Obama in critical states where unemployment is stubbornly high. As Obama arrived in North Carolina, a Mooresville, N.C.-based Lowe's Inc. announced it would close 20 stores, laying off 1,950 workers.The White House as well as Obama insisted that a tour is official business, giving a boss a chance to connect with voters as well as enlist their help in rallying public opinion behind his jobs package, which he says could create up to 2 million jobs.Observer staff writer Franco Ordoez as well as a As! sociated Press contributed.