http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/sep/29/obam29-ar-530726/Published: September 29, 2010
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Obama bringing economic pitch to Richmond
By Olympia Meola | TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
President Obama today will cap a three-state swing in Richmond, where he will have conversations about the economy.
President Barack Obama today will cap a three-state swing in South Richmond, where he will hold the latest in a series of conversations about the economy.
Obama has used the informal gatherings to hear from people in various regions on the impacts of the economic downturn. He was in Albuquerque, N.M., yesterday for his third such stop in recent weeks.
He is to stop in Des Moines, Iowa, this morning before he comes to Richmond this afternoon. The event, at the Southampton Recreation Association, is not open to the public.
Obama's first trip to Richmond as president comes about five weeks before the Nov. 2 congressional elections. He will talk about the administration's efforts to improve the sluggish economy. He also will discuss the budget deficit and Bush-era tax cuts that are due to expire at the end of the year, White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said.
The conversations give Obama an opportunity to "get out of Washington and have a substantive conversation with middle-class families about how the economy is affecting them, what they're seeing out there in their daily lives, and talk about the things we've done to deal with the economic crisis they've been facing for a decade now," Pfeiffer said.
The White House works with local officials to find a family willing to share its story and then usually has them invite neighbors, he said. "It's not a hand-picked crowd," he said.
The president also will use today's events to discuss elements of the "Pledge to America," the 2010 Republican agenda unveiled last week.
The White House favors extending the Bush tax cuts to families making less than $250,000 a year.
Republicans, including a vocal Rep. Eric Cantor, R-7th, also want to extend the cuts to people making more than $250,000. Cantor argues that that income bracket includes small businesspeople who create jobs, but Democrats say it would mean borrowing $700 billion.
"We all agree on tax cuts just for the middle class. We should get together and approve those, and then we can have a debate about the upper income; the Republicans are refusing to do that," Pfeiffer said.
"But this a core part of the pledge, and it's a real difference. If you look at that pledge, it's deficits as far as the eye can see."
Republicans mounted an offensive ahead of the president's visit. Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling held a news conference to offer "advice" to the president to help change the nation's economic direction.
Among his ideas was to make the Bush tax cuts permanent for every resident and every American small business and to provide additional tax cuts for businesses that create jobs and make major capital investments.
"I realize that there are no silver bullets that will get our economy moving again," Bolling said, but he added: "There's an old saying that when you find yourself in a hole -- and our economy is definitely in a hole -- the first step in getting out of the hole is to stop digging."
For security reasons, the president's visit will restrict most flights at Chesterfield County and Hanover County airports, as well as non-airline operations at Richmond International Airport.
"That's 3 hours and 15 minutes of unproductive time," said Thomas T. "Mike" Mickel Jr., president and CEO of Dominion Aviation Services Inc., which provides air-charter, maintenance and aircraft-fueling services at Chesterfield.
"The president is here touting jobs creation and economic recovery, and the people he is holding up are the ones out in the trenches actually making an effort to do these things."
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