WAKARUSA, Ind.—
Venturing back to a region reeling from deep unemployment, President Barack Obama's latest mission to hard-hit Elkhart County aims to show that his stimulus plan is producing tangible help — $2.4 billion in taxpayer grants to create electric cars and tens of thousands of jobs.
At a recreational-vehicle plant in northern Indiana, Obama on Wednesday will announce the grants and try to stabilize American confidence. His stop in Wakarusa, Ind., is part of a concerted economic campaign that also will see Vice President Joe Biden and four Cabinet secretaries holding events in five states.
As Congress breaks for the summer, the public message war is on. Obama wants to persuade Americans that his economic agenda is working but also that it will take time to produce the number that people really want: more jobs.
That matters immensely in Elkhart County, a capital of RV manufacturing. The industry has been crushed by the recession. Indiana's Elkhart-Goshen area had an unemployment rate of 16.8 percent in June. That's up 10 percentage points from last year. It's also higher than it was when Obama visited in February, although the jobless rate has at least come down from 17.5 percent in May.
The president was scheduled to announce the grants and give an outline of his economic recovery plans during an appearance Wednesday morning at Monaco RV in Wakarusa.
“Obviously, this is an area of the country that’s been particularly hard-hit as a result of the economic downturn,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
Chuck Todd, NBC’s political director and White House bureau chief, was scheduled to interview Obama after the event, getting the president’s answers to questions submitted by msnbc.com readers.
Of the new grants, $1.5 billion will go to the production of batteries and their components; $500 million will go for other components needed for the cars, like electric motors; and $400 million will go toward plug-in hybrid cars, training for technicians and related costs.
Monaco RV is a highly symbolic location for Obama’s announcement. The plant has been to bankruptcy and back, and people are once again working there. But after 1,400 workers were laid off, the workforce is much smaller than it was before Navistar International Corp., an Illinois-based transportation company, bought the plant and rescued it from closure.
Before Monaco’s bankruptcy in March, 40 percent of the workforce in Wakarusa, a town of about 1,700 people, was employed at the plant. The town drew 30 percent of its revenue from the company, Town Manager Tom Roeder said.
Donna Sharp, who works at the plant, said she was “really excited” about the president’s visit.
“I believe he’s coming here because we went out of business last year, and now Navistar bought out Monaco, and I believe that’s why he’s coming here — to see how far, or how good we’re doing and what we’re starting up,” Sharp said.
This is the same region where Obama made his first bolt outside the Washington beltway as president, three weeks on the job. He was lobbying for the stimulus. The resulting $787 billion legislation included $2.4 billion to support a new generation of electric cars. The competition for the money is completed, giving Obama something concrete to offer in his return visit. The money will be split among nearly 50 projects in 25 states, with the biggest shares going to Indiana and Michigan to create job opportunities in the automotive sector.
'Recovery dollars'But Gibbs said Obama’s visit had a larger purpose than simply to delivery “recovery dollars.” Obama will “talk about what we’re seeing more broadly in the economy and some innovative ways that we can address creating jobs over the long term,” Gibbs said. “You see the degree to which the economy has slid in only a very short period of time, and I think that’s what the president will focus on.”
Biden will make a similar pitch at NextEnergy, a Detroit-based nonprofit group that helps private businesses research and develop alternative and renewable energy programs. He will talk about “the long-term investments we are making to rebuild for the future,” the White House said.
The initial announcements will probably not include Electric Motors Corp., a startup company that has touted ambitious plans to build electric and hybrid vehicles in Elkhart County. EMC, which has sought $300 million in federal grants and loans, hasn’t received an invitation to attend or heard any other details, a spokesman told The Elkhart Truth.
Rep. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., who represents the region in Congress, said Tuesday that a decision on EMC was “really not expected for another two to three weeks at the earliest.” But he told NBC station WNDU of South Bend that the application was going smoothly, “so I don’t want anybody to feel that if there’s no announcement made that that indicates anything one way or the other.”
Navistar, which owns Monaco RV, is also in the hybrid electric vehicle business. In March, it unveiled its newest hybrid truck, the International WorkStar Hybrid 4x4, billed as “the industry’s first four-wheel drive diesel-electric hybrid commercial truck.”
Obama will be in the region only briefly and will not be mingling with the public. Air Force One was scheduled to arrive in South Bend at 11:10 a.m. ET and depart about 1:20 p.m.; the Wakarusa event is by invitation only, and the landing and takeoff are closed to the public.
But Stacy Hughes, 22, a lifelong Wakarusa resident, said Obama’s simple presence was good news.
“It can’t be a bad thing,” Hughes told The Truth. “Anything to help our town and get it national attention is important.” Dustin Lawrence and Marilyn Odendahl of The Elkhart Truth, msnbc.com staff, The Associated Press, NBC stations WNDU of South Bend, Ind., and WDIV of Detroit contributed to this report.
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